Analysis of pressure-driven water vapor separation in hollow fiber composite membrane for air dehumidification

Abstract

A two-dimensional axisymmetric mathematical model was established to describe the pressure-driven water vapor separation in the hollow fiber composite membrane for air dehumidification. The developed transport model considered the permeation in the dense layer and the diffusion in the porous membrane substrate, in which the mass and momentum balance equations were coupled. The predicted results by the simulation model was consistent well with the experimental data. The velocity, pressure and concentration profiles and the mass transfer process in a single hollow fiber membrane were then solved and analyzed in detail, including the effects of feed velocity, feed humidity and transmembrane pressure on the dehumidification performance. The results show that the amount of water vapor separation (outlet humidity) is more sensitive to the medium feed velocity with the separation amount about twice than that of high and low velocities. The separated amount of water vapor by the membrane is less dependent on the feed inlet humidity. And the air dehumidification performance of the membrane could be realized effectively until the transmembrane pressure over a critical value, which is 1.0 bar in this model. The findings deliver an insight into the mass transport in the membrane-based dehumidification process, with the aims to provide a useful reference to the design, process optimization and module development using hollow fiber membrane.