Ethylene/ethane separation and mass transfer characteristics through absorption by AgNO3 solutions in microchannels

Abstract

Chemical absorption using silver ion is a potential way for ethylene recovery, which can be significantly enhanced by the use of microreactors. This work presents an experimental study on the characteristics of absorption of ethylene into aqueous AgNO3 solutions. The effects of several parameters including channel length, channel diameter, flow rates, temperature and AgNO3 concentration are investigated in terms of absorption fraction, molar absorptivity and mass transfer coefficients. It is demonstrated that very high liquid side mass transfer coefficients in the range of 3–85 s−1 can be obtained in microchannels, indicating significant process intensification. Based on the results, an empirical correlation was proposed for the prediction of mass transfer coefficients.