Effect of interfacial phenomena on mass transfer performance of an absorber packed closely with cylindrical packing

• An absorber packed closely with cylindrical packing was designed in this study.
• The wetting of packing surface is a key factor for absorber performance.
• The Marangoni effect can be triggered in the system with continuous liquid phase.
• The surface stress increases significantly as TEG concentration exceeds 92 wt.%.
• The larger flow rate of TEG solution weakened the Marangoni effect.

The mass transfer performance is usually affected by the wetting of the packing surface with absorbent solution, and the wetted surface can be affected by interfacial disturbances resulting from the gradient in surface tension between water vapor and absorbent solution. In order to discuss the effects of interfacial phenomena on mass transfer performance of water vapor absorbed by triethylene glycol (TEG) and lithium bromide (LiBr) solutions, an absorber packed closely with cylindrical packing was designed in this study and the packing material was polyvinyl chloride. In addition, the interfacial behaviors were observed from water droplet positioned on the surface of absorbent solution, and the surface stress was defined and calculated to analyze how mass transfer performance was affected by the stress. Experimental results show that surface stress increases with increases in concentration of TEG solution. The surface stress increases significantly when the concentration of TEG solution exceeds 92 wt.% The area of packing wetted by TEG solution increases as the concentration of TEG solution and humidity increase. Therefore, the mass transfer performance also increases with the higher concentration and higher humidity.