Advances in Hollow Fiber Contactor-Based Technology in Gas Absorption and Stripping

This chapter discusses the advances in hollow fiber membrane contactors for gas absorption and stripping. A critical issue facing the development of hollow fiber membranes for gas absorption and stripping through the membrane contactor process is the wetting of membranes which could lead to a substantial increase of mass transfer resistance. polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) also has the greatest long-term stability among these hydrophobic materials in which the PTFE hollow fiber membranes used for gas absorption could maintain their stable performance in operation up to 60 hours. As the porosity and pore sizes of membranes can directly influence the mass transfer efficiency, the current development of ceramic membranes is focused on the fabrication or modification of ceramic hollow fiber membranes with high porosity. The direct incorporation of inorganic nanomaterials in the polymeric dope solution represents a simple and diverse method to modify the properties of gas absorption membranes.