Abstract
Hollow fiber membrane contactors (HFMCs) provide a large specific surface area. Thus, their significantly reduced volume provides an advantage compared to the conventional gas–liquid contactor. In this study, the selective removal efficiency of flue gas, in which sulfur oxide (SO2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) coexist, was measured using a polypropylene (PP) HFMC with such advantages. To increase the selective removal efficiency of SO2, experiments were conducted using various alkaline absorbents. As a result, with 0.05 M ammonia solution, the removal efficiency of 95% or more was exhibited with continuous operation for 100 h or more. We confirmed that the absorbent saturated by the once-through mode was aqueous ammonium sulfate ((NH4)2SO4) solution and could be used as a fertilizer without additional processing.
Highlights
Green Materials & Processes R&D Group, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, 55 Jongga-ro, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pusan National University, 2 Busandaehak-ro, These authors contributed to this work
Due to the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic, carbon dioxide emissions are temporarily reduced, but greenhouse gas emissions are still maintained at high levels [3]
Carbon dioxide (CO2 ), which is a cause of global warming from fossil fuel combustion, and sulfur oxides (SOX ), generated by sulfur contained in fuels, cause acid rain and fine dust, so they are materials that must be treated [4]
Summary
Despite the continuous development of new and renewable energies, fossil fuel consumption is not expected to decrease significantly worldwide. Methods of reducing sulfur oxides emitted from fossil fuel combustion are generally classified as either desulfurization during or after combustion [8]. Some papers have been published on selecting suitable absorbent for removing sulfur oxides using a membrane contactor [22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29]. Seawater, which has high SO2 removal efficiency, is economical It has been reported as an alternative absorbent to conventional alkaline materials such as magnesium hydroxide and limestone. Various alkaline solutions were applied to a laboratory-scale membrane contactor composed of polypropylene (PP), a representative hollow fiber membrane material, to examine the selective removal efficiency of SO2 in the simulated flue gas of a massive oil boiler. The liquid by-products of experiments using ammonia solution were analyzed to determine the SO2 removal efficiency and the recyclability of recovered SO2 , and the possibility of use as a liquid fertilizer is presented
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