Development and evaluation of a hollow fiber membrane contactor for carbon dioxide capture

This study presents a promising approach for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture through fabrication, testing, and simulation of a hollow fiber membrane contactor. The contactor is constructed using a thermal induced phase separation technique, and its effectiveness was assessed using a gas-liquid absorption system. The results indicated that the membrane contactor exhibited a remarkable CO2 absorption capacity and a rapid mass transfer rate. In addition, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are used to demonstrate membrane contactor performance, and to investigate the flow behavior and CO2 concentration profile within a membrane unit setup. The simulation results closely aligned with the experimental data, affirming the accuracy of the CFD model. Collectively, this study highlights the potential of the hollow fiber membrane contactor as an efficient and economical solution for CO2 capture. Various solvents were investigated based on their ability to absorb CO2. Results revealed the potassium glycinate is an encouraging solvent.