N2O absorption through super hydrophobic hollow fiber membrane contactor

Abstract

Dinitrogen monoxide (N2O) is mainly produced in Horticulture and farming activities, industrial processes and combustion of fossil fuels. N2O is one of the harmful emissions and its global warming potential is 310 times greater than CO2 on a molecular basis. This research aims to absorb N2O from its mixture with air through super hydrophobic hollow membrane contactor using a mixture of 0.5M HNO3 and 0.5 wt % H2O2 solutions as absorbent. In the experiment, the feed gas flowed through the shell side of the contactor, while absorbent solution flowed through the lumen fibers. Experimental results show that the amount of N2O absorbed and N2O absorption efficiency increased with the absorbent flow rate and the number of fibers in the contactor resulting from the increase in the turbulence and surface area for gas–liquid contact, respectively. The overall mass transfer coefficient and the flux increased with the absorbent flow rate due to the decrease of the mass transfer resistance in the liquid phase. However, the overall mass transfer coefficient and the flux decreased with the number of fibers in the contactor due to the decrease of the absorbent flow rate in a single fiber. The amount of N2O absorbed and the flux increased but the N2O absorption efficiency decreased with increasing the feed gas cross flow rate. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 38: 362–366, 2019