Study of the Effective Parameters on the Performance of Hollow Fiber Membrane Contactors in CO2 Separation from Natural Gas

Membrane contactor is a device which enables direct contact between gas and liquid phases without scattering in each other. Among several industrial and scientific examples, natural gas sweetening is the most important application of membrane contactor. Gas stream consists of natural gas, enters to the one side of membrane and absorbent phase flows in the other side. Membrane provides an interfacial surface which increases the rate of mass transfer between gas and liquid phases. Hollow fiber membranes utilized in membrane contactor should have hydrophobic surface property to prevent the liquid phase from penetrating to the porous structure. Otherwise, a huge increase in mass transfer resistance would be observed. In comparison to the conventional packed or tray towers, membrane contactor benefits from high interfacial mass transfer surface and very easy flow control as well as process operation. This article in addition to the application of mass transfer equations in simulation and modeling of membrane contactor; mainly focuses on the natural gas sweetening and analysis of the influential parameters on the performance and absorption process such as membrane wettability, liquefied absorbents, membrane characteristics and operational conditions.