Study of intrinsic oxygen mass transfer characteristic and model on polypropylene hollow fiber membrane contactor

Abstract

The oxygen mass transfer characteristics of a membrane contactor with a hydrophobic polypropylene hollow fiber membrane are experimentally studied herein. The examination focuses on influences of oxygen intake pressure (0.12, 0.13, and 0.14 MPa) and water flux (from 100 L/h to 320 L/h) on oxygen mass transfer coefficient. Experimental results indicate that the inflection point of oxygen mass transfer coefficient shows up when water flux increases under specific intake gas pressures. The mass transfer coefficient goes up remarkably along with rise of oxygen intake pressure. A novel mass transfer model based on the concept of the liquid film renewal time (△tj) and the solubility equilibrium time (△t⁎) is proposed. In this model, the total mass transfer rate is influenced both by liquid film renewal rate between fluid bulk region and liquid film at the gas–liquid interface, and by oxygen diffusion rate in the twice interface renewal process. The model interprets the experimental mass transfer phenomena well.