Absorption of Sulfur Dioxide in a Transversal Flow Hollow Fiber Membrane Contactor

Abstract

This paper reports the absorption of SO2 in a transversal flow hollow fiber membrane contactor (HFMC) using water at 27 °C. Experimental results show that gas and liquid flow rates can be regulated independently without causing operational failures in the HFMC. High SO2 removal efficiencies could be achieved at water flow rates from 194 and 463 mL min−1, gas flow rates between 8276 and 18073 mL min−1, and the inlet SO2 concentration of 2000 ppm. The SO2 removal efficiency increased with increasing liquid flow rate and decreasing gas flow rate. The overall volumetric gas phase mass transfer coefficient \( (K_{G} a) \) of the HFMC is in the range of \( 10^{ - 3} \;{\text{mol}}\;{\text{s}}^{ - 1} \;{\text{m}}^{ - 3} {\text{Pa}}^{ - 1} \). It is higher than that of conventional wet SO2 scrubbers although water is used in HFMC while effective alkaline absorbents are used in the compared reactors. It indicates that the HFMC is superior in SO2 absorption over conventional absorbers.