Investigating the Advantages and Limitations of Modeling Physical Mass Transfer of CO2 on Flat Plate by One Fluid Formulation in OpenFOAM

Phanindra Prasad Thummala,Ahmet Ozan Celik,Umran Tezcan Un

doi:10.3311/ppch.12291

Abstract

One fluid formulation is an approach used for modeling and analysis of mass transfer between two immiscible phases. In this study we implement and analyze the advantages and limitations of this approach for CO2 physical mass transfer into MEA. The domain is a flat plate and gas liquid flow is counter current. The analysis was carried for operating parameters like liquid phase Reynolds number, MEA mass fraction and the angle of inclination of flat plate. The results clearly show that the model effectively captures the deviation in liquid side mass transfer coefficient due to the surface instabilities and liquid properties which are generally neglected by standard correlations. Also the model shows that the standard Higbie correlation is preferable at low Reynolds number at any angle of inclination. The grid independent studies show that a size of 6.25 µm is required in the interface region for effectively using this approach. The computational resource time at this resolution was found as the only limitation for using this approach and we suggest a procedure to overcome this limitation. The present simulation results can help CFD researchers investigating immiscible gas-liquid mass transfer using OpenFOAM.

Highlights

CO2 is the main greenhouse gas that is causing an increase in average surface temperature of earth and need to be captured at the source to reduce its impact on the environment
The analysis was carried for operating parameters like liquid phase Reynolds number, MEA mass fraction and the angle of inclination of flat plate
The results clearly show that the model effectively captures the deviation in liquid side mass transfer coefficient due to the surface instabilities and liquid properties which are generally neglected by standard correlations

Summary

Introduction

CO2 is the main greenhouse gas that is causing an increase in average surface temperature of earth and need to be captured at the source to reduce its impact on the environment. The main sources of CO2 emission are power plants, industrial processes and domestic consumption of fuels. Technologies required to capture the CO2 gas at the source need to be developed. Several technologies have been developed in this regard like membrane separations (utilizing a membrane to separate the CO2 from flue gases) [2], adsorption (adsorbing the CO2 on the surface of the chemically activated solids) [3] and using solvents like ionic liquids [4], amines blends [5] (with and without reactions). CO2 absorption into MEA is majorly carried using packed bed reactors. The availability of high interfacial area for mass transfer at low pressure drop makes the packed bed reactors preferable, commercially tested at industrial scale [8], for gas liquid absorption process

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