Experimental study on the separation of CO2 from flue gas using hollow fiber membrane contactors without wetting

Experiments on CO2 removal from flue gas using polypropylene (PP) hollow fiber membrane contactors were conducted in this study. Absorbents including aqueous potassium glycinate (PG) solution, aqueous solutions of monoethanolamine (MEA) and methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) were used to absorb CO2 in the experiments. Based on the wetting experimental results, aqueous PG solution can offer a higher surface tension than water, aqueous MEA and MDEA solutions. Aqueous PG solution has a lower potential of membrane wetting after a continuously steady operation for 40 h to maintain CO2 removal efficiency of about 90%. Under moderate operating conditions, effects of the temperature, flow rate, and concentration of absorbents, and the flow rate of flue gas as well as the volumetric concentration of carbon dioxide in the flue gas on the mass transfer rate of CO2 were studied on a pilot-scale test facility. Unlike conventional absorbents, the mass transfer decreases with an increasing liquid temperature when using aqueous PG solution. Results show that CO2 removal efficiency was above 90% and the mass transfer rate was above 2.0 mol/(m2 h) using the PG aqueous solution. It indicates that the hollow fiber membrane contactor has a great potential in the area of CO2 separation from flue gas when absorbent's concentration and liquid–gas pressure difference are designed elaborately.