Carbon dioxide stripping from monoethanolamine solution through polyetherimide hollow fiber membrane contactor

In this research, process asymmetric polyetherimide hollow fiber membranes using ethanol (0, 2 and 4 wt%) as non-solvent additive in the polymer dope via phase inversion method were fabricated. Aqueous solution of 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidine (NMP) (90%) was applied as a bore fluid and water (10%) was used as the external coagulant. Fabricated membranes were characterized in terms of pore size, critical water entry pressure, water contact angle and collapsing pressure. The performance of fabricated membranes for carbon dioxide stripping from monoethanolamine solution using a gas - liquid membrane contactor system was studied. The results showed that with the membrane prepared with 2 wt.% of ethanol as additive in the spinning dope a maximum CO2 flux was achieved. Carbon dioxide stripping flux and efficiency increased by increasing liquid velocity. Also, enhancement of stripping flux by increasing gas velocity was negligible. By increasing MEA solution temperature stripping flux increased therefore, liquid phase temperature is a key parameter which needs to be controlled.

Keywords:

Gas-liquid membrane contactor , CO2 stripping , Hollow fiber membrane , Polyetherimide