Experimental Investigation of Mass Transfer Intensification for CO2 Capture by Environment-Friendly Water Based Nanofluid Solvents in a Rotating Packed Bed

Abstract

In this research, two intensification approaches for CO2 capture via a rotating packed bed (RPB) and nanofluids were examined simultaneously to maximize the experimental mass transfer coefficient. The two intensification approaches were done by using water as a green, environmentally friendly absorption solvent and as the base fluid for preparing nanofluids and also by using centrifugal acceleration in an RPB. Physicosorption of CO2 in an RPB was carried out by applying Al2O3, TiO2, and SiO2 nanofluids to intensify the mass transfer in water, and the operation parameters such as the angular speed of the rotor, concentration and type of nanoparticles, gas and liquid flow rates, and CO2 concentration in mass transfer intensification were evaluated and several nanofluids were selected to survey investigate how they affect the mass transfer at low pressure. The results show that the Al2O3 nanofluid was more effective than other nanofluids and that the 40 nm nanofluid of this type was more efficient than the 20 nm size. Therefore, a correlation is proposed in this paper for liquid volumetric mass transfer coefficient prediction that includes the microconvection of nanoparticles and surface tension.