CO2 capture using a superhydrophobic ceramic membrane contactor

• The wetting and fouling of a membrane contactor deteriorated performance of the membrane gas absorption system for CO2 post-combustion capture in coal-fired power plants. To solve these problems, in this study, a superhydrophobic ceramic (SC) membrane contactor was fabricated from an alumina tube with a ZrO2 layer by means of grafting with fluoroalkylsilane (FAS) in a triethoxy-1H,1H,2H,2H-tridecafluoro-n-octylsilane solution. The performances of the SC membrane contactor and polypropylene (PP) hollow fiber membrane contactor were compared through experiments conducted in a CO2 absorption experimental system using a monoethanolamine (MEA) aqueous solution. Although the membrane fabrication cost per effective membrane area (CPA) of the SC membrane is 12.5 times that of the PP hollow fiber membrane, the SC membrane fabrication cost per absorbed CO2 flux (CPC) was lower than that of the PP membrane. For the SC membrane, the detrimental effect of wetting can be alleviated by periodic drying to ensure a high CO2 removal efficiency (>90%). Drying does not work for the PP membrane because the swelling of the PP fibers is irreversible. The SC membrane contactor exhibited a better anti-fouling ability than the PP membrane contactor because the superhydrophobic surface can self-clean. To ensure a continuous, high-efficiency CO2 removal, a method was proposed in which two-hollow fiber SC membrane contactors operate alternately with the addition of periodic drying. The SC hollow fiber membrane contactor shows great potential in real industrial CO2 post-combustion capture because of its good anti-wetting and anti-fouling features.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Materialteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Materials Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Ceramic

CO<inf>2</inf> capture

Membrane contactor

Superhydrophobic

Wetting

Alumina

Ceramic materials

Ceramic membranes

Coal

Coal combustion

Combustion

Drying

Ethanolamines

Fabrication

Fibers

Fossil fuel power plants

Gas absorption

Gas plants

Hydrophobicity

Polypropylenes

Solutions

Hollow fiber membrane contactors

Hollow fiber membranes

Membrane gas absorption

Post-combustion captures

Super-hydrophobic surfaces

Membranes

aluminum oxide

carbon dioxide

ethanolamine

polypropylene

silane derivative

triethoxy 1h

1h

2h

2h tridecafluoro n octylsilane

unclassified drug

zirconium oxide

absorption

aqueous solution

Article

contact angle

electric power plant

general device

hollow fiber membrane

priority journal

scanning electron microscopy

spectroscopy

superhydrophobic ceramic membrane contactor

swelling

X ray photoemission and spectroscopy

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)