Integrated membrane contactor absorber/regeneration column process for CO2 capture with large scale module at various operating conditions

Abstract

In this study, a 3-in. diameter ceramic hollow fiber membrane contactor unit module with an improved flow path was successfully developed for CO2 capture. The effect of CO2 loading in the absorbent, water and oxygen in the flue gas was evaluated in order to evaluate the performance of the ceramic hollow fiber membrane module. No performance degradation was found for water vapor and oxygen in the flue gas. On the other hand, absorption performance decreased with the amount of CO2 loaded in the absorbent. The 2-stage module was able to absorb more than 90 % of CO2 in 0.5 Nm3/h flue gas with 0.17 mol CO2/mol MEA loaded absorbent. At this time, the gas and liquid pressure drops were 0.012 and 0.010 bar, respectively. This is a small value compared to the pressure drop of the conventional packed absorption column process. In addition, the integrated membrane absorber/stripping column process was operated for more than 60 h and the CO2 removal efficiency was maintained at about 84 %. There was no decrease in performance or pore swelling of the membrane. Ceramic hollow fiber membrane contactor is a promising process that can replace conventional absorption process or polymeric membrane contactor.