Effect of Spinneret Dimension on Structure and Performance of Polyetherimide Hollow Fiber Membrane in Membrane Contactor

In hollow fiber membrane fabrication process, a number of parameters such as dope compositions and flow rate, bore fluid type and flow rate, air gap etc. affect on the structure and characteristics of membrane. One of effective parameters is the dimension of spinneret and in this study; the effects of this parameter on the properties of polyetherimide (PEI) hollow fiber membrane and its performance in membrane contactor were studied. A polymer solution was used for fabrication of two PEI membranes at the same fabrication conditions while the dimension of spinneret was different. Through the addition of water as the nonsolvent additive to the polymer solution, the thermodynamic stability of the solution decreased and upon the enhancement in the phase inversion process, the effects of chain reorientation or chain relaxation on the structure of hollow fiber membrane were minimized. The fabricated membranes were characterized by different tests and their performance in membrane contractor and in CO2 absorption test was evaluated in two cases: 1- distilled water in lumen side and pure CO2 in shell side, 2- distilled water in shell side and pure CO2 in lumen side. The results show that smaller dimension of spinneret enhances the properties of membrane such as 250% increase in mean pore size and 300% increase in gas permeation rate. In addition, the smaller dimension of the spinneret makes more pores in the structure of membrane that can be related to the shorter diffusion length of the coagulant. Furthermore, the CO2 absorption flux improves by 150%.