Enhancing CO2 absorption efficiency using a novel PTFE hollow fiber membrane contactor at elevated pressure

The internal structure design of membrane module is very important for gas removal performance using membrane contactor via physical absorption. In this study, a novel membrane contactor developed by weaving polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) hollow fibers was applied to remove CO₂ from 60% N₂ + 40% CO₂ mixture (with CO₂ concentration similar to that of biogas) at elevated pressure (0.8 MPa) using water as absorbent. Compared with the conventional module with randomly packed straight fibers, the module with woven PTFE fibers exhibited much better CO₂ absorption performance. The weaving configuration facilitated the meandering flow or Dean vortices and renewing speed of water around hollow fibers. Meanwhile, the undesired influences such as channeling and bypassing were also eliminated. Consequently, the mass transfer of liquid phase was greatly improved and the CO₂ removal efficiency was significantly enhanced. The effects of operation pressure, module arrangement, feed gas, and water flow rate on CO₂ removal were systematically investigated as well. The overall mass‐transfer coefficient (K_OV) varied from 1.96 × 10^?5 to 4.39 × 10^?5 m/s (the volumetric mass‐transfer coefficient K_La = 0.034–0.075 s^?1) under the experimental conditions. The CO₂ removal performance of novel woven fiber membrane contactor matched well with the simulation results. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 64: 2135–2145, 2018