Abstract
Ceramic membrane contactors hold great promise for CO2 desorption due to their high mass transfer area as well as the favorable characteristics of ceramic materials to resist harsh operating conditions. In this work, a hydrophobic tubular asymmetric alpha-alumina (α-Al2O3) membrane was prepared by grafting a hexadecyltrimethoxysilane ethanol solution. The hydrophobicity and permeability of the membrane were evaluated in terms of water contact angle and nitrogen (N2) flux. The hydrophobic membrane had a water contact angle of ~132° and N2 flux of 0.967 × 10−5 mol/(m2∙s∙Pa). CO2 desorption from the aqueous monoethanolamine (MEA) solution was conducted through the hydrophobic tubular ceramic membrane contactor. The effects of operating conditions, such as CO2 loading, liquid flow rate, liquid temperature and permeate side pressure, on CO2 desorption flux were investigated. Moreover, the stability of the membrane was evaluated after the immersion of the ceramic membrane in an MEA solution at 373 K for 30 days. It was found that the hydrophobic α-Al2O3 membrane had good stability for CO2 desorption from the MEA solution, resulting in a <10% reduction of N2 flux compared to the membrane without MEA immersion.
Highlights
Carbon dioxide (CO2 ) capture plays a key role in reducing CO2 emissions
14a,c, no obvious variation can be found between the presented in Figure to observe the effect of solution on the stability of the modified presented in Figure 14 to observe the effect of MEA solution on the stability of the modisurface morphology of the hydrophobic ceramic membrane before and after the immermembrane
A hydrophobic ceramic membrane was fabricated via grafting a hexadecyltrimethoxysilane ethanol solution and tested in terms of water contact angle, pure N2 permeability and
Summary
Carbon dioxide (CO2 ) capture plays a key role in reducing CO2 emissions. Among current technologies for CO2 capture, amine scrubbing is considered to be the most wellestablished one, dominating industrial application in the short-to-medium terms [1]. Some polymeric membranes, most notably polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) [5], polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) [9] and polypropylene (PP) [10], have been used for CO2 desorption Despite these polymeric materials exhibiting advantages of high specific surface area for mass transfer, in general, they underperform on anti-chemical degradation, anti-thermal aging and mechanical strength [6]. These drawbacks of polymeric membranes make them susceptible to undesired variations in membrane structure and properties, such as in morphology, microstructure, hydrophobicity, etc., and even to liquid leakage after long-term exposure to the evaluated-temperature chemical solution. Kfor days. of the ceramic membrane in contact angleinand morphology before and after the 30 immersion aqueous MEA solution at 373 K for 30 days
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