Performance Test Membrane Contactor for CO2 Desorption from DEA

Abstract

Membrane-based desorption of carbon dioxide (CO₂) using a membrane contactor is considered a novel process for separating CO₂ from solvents. It can be carried out using temperature regeneration, sweep gas, and vacuum method. In this work, the vacuum regeneration method is applied in the CO₂ desorption process from 30% wt of diethanolamine (DEA) solution. This study investigates the effect of operating parameters such as liquid flowrate, vacuum pressure, and CO₂ loading on the mass transfer rate and desorption efficiency of CO₂. The highest mass transfer rate of 2.2013 × 10^-7 mol/m²s is achieved at a liquid flowrate of 500 mL/min, CO₂ loading of 0.27 mol CO₂/mol DEA, and vacuum pressure of 50 cmHg while the maximum desorption efficiency of 71.45% is achieved at lower liquid flowrate of 100 mL/min, CO₂ loading of 0.27 mol CO₂/mol DEA, and vacuum pressure of 50 cmHg. The result demonstrates that membrane contactor is a promising method for the CO₂ desorption process which requires further investigation.