Hollow fiber membrane contactor transient experiments for the characterization of gas/liquid thermodynamics and mass transfer properties

Abstract

We present results from experiments and numerical simulations of contact between a non-reactive gas (N 2O and CO 2) and a physical solvent (H 2O) occurring in a polypropylene (PP) hollow fiber membrane contactor. The closed-loop liquid flow within the experimental setup provides transient curves representing the progressive saturation of the solvent by the gas. We develop an in-house numerical model to fully characterize the gas/liquid mass transfer both in the non-wetted and in the wetted modes, i.e., when the liquid starts partially wetting the pores of the membrane. Using experiments and numerical simulations, we show that the Henry constant ( H) and the molecular diffusion coefficient ( D L A ) of a non-reactive gas absorbing into a liquid solvent can be extracted by parameter estimation. Both parameters are obtained within a single experiment at a constant temperature and the comparison with temperature-dependant correlations yields excellent agreement over the whole range of temperature studied in this work. Simulations show a partial wetting of the membrane pore by the liquid meniscus during a contact between CO 2 and H 2O, possibly due to the plasticizer effect of CO 2 inside the membrane contactor fibers.