Determination of mass transfer resistance during absorption of carbon dioxide by mixed absorbents in PVDF and PP membrane contactor

In this study, the absorption of carbon dioxide by the absorbent which was composed of 2-amino-2-methyl-l-propanol (AMP) + piperazine (PZ) or methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) + piperazine (PZ) in polyvinylidinefluoride (PVDF) and polypropylene (PP) membrane contactors werewas examined. Three resistances were considered in each hollow fiber, i.e., liquid-film diffusion, membrane diffusion, and gas-film diffusion. The mass transfer resistance of membrane k_m was influenced by the wetting ratio using an absorbent with higher reaction rate. The wetting ratio was affected by contact angle between the membrane and absorbent and the viscosity of absorbent. The calculated absorption rates considering wetting ratio of membrane and using the modified correlation equation of gas-phase mass transfer coefficient were reasonably agreeable to those of measured ones (standard deviation, 4%). The fractional resistance of each transport step during the experiments was then determined. The rate-controlling step was dominated by the resistance of gas-film diffusion with mixed absorbents. The absorption rates of CO₂ increase with the increasing of gas flow rates in the most experimental cases. The resistance of liquid-film diffusion was only important using an absorbent with lower reaction rate. The rate-controlling step was the membrane diffusion only at higher gas flow rate with the absorbent composed of AMP and PZ in PVDF hollow fiber membrane contactor.