Computational evaluation of micropores wetting effect on the removal process of CO2 through the membrane contactor

Abdulrahman Sumayli; Zakarya Ahmed; Vicky Jain; R Roopashree; Anjan Kumar; Aditya Kashyap; Mukesh Kumari; Sofia Gupta; G V Siva Prasad; Munthar Kadhim Abosaoda

doi:10.1038/s41598-024-84774-6

Computational evaluation of micropores wetting effect on the removal process of CO₂ through the membrane contactor

Sci Rep. 2025 Jan 4;15(1):780. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-84774-6.

Authors

Abdulrahman Sumayli^{1

2}, Zakarya Ahmed³, Vicky Jain⁴, R Roopashree⁵, Anjan Kumar⁶, Aditya Kashyap⁷, Mukesh Kumari⁸, Sofia Gupta⁹, G V Siva Prasad¹⁰, Munthar Kadhim Abosaoda^{11

12}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Najran University, Najran, Saudi Arabia. aisumayli@nu.edu.sa.
² Sustainability Lab, Scientific and Engineering Research Center (SERC), Najran university, Najran, Saudi Arabia. aisumayli@nu.edu.sa.
³ College of Engineering, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, IMSIU, 11432, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Marwadi University Research Center, Marwadi University, Rajkot, Gujarat, 360003, India.
⁵ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Sciences, JAIN (Deemed to be University), Banglore, Karnataka, India.
⁶ Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, GLA University, Mathura, 281406, India.
⁷ Center for Research Impact and Outcome, Chitkara University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Chitkara University, Rajpura, Punjab, 140401, India.
⁸ Department of Applied Science-Chemistry, NIMS Institute of Engineering & Technology, NIMS University, Rajasthan, Jaipur, India.
⁹ Department of Chemistry, Chandigarh Engineering College, Chandigarh Group of Colleges-Jhanjeri, Mohali, Punjab, 140307, India.
¹⁰ Department of Chemistry, Raghu Engineering College, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, 531162, India.
¹¹ College of Pharmacy, The Islamic University, Najaf, Iraq.
¹² College of Pharmacy, The Islamic University of Al Diwaniyah, Al Diwaniyah, Iraq.

Abstract

In the current years, gas-liquid membrane contactors (GLMCs) have been introduced as a promising, versatile and easy-to-operate technology for mitigating the emission of major greenhouse contaminants (i.e., CO₂ and H₂S) to the ecosystem. This paper tries to computationally study the role of membrane pores wettability on the removal performance of CO₂ inside the HFMC. To fulfill this purpose, a mathematical model based on finite element procedure (FEP) has been employed to solve the momentum and mass transport equations in the partial-wetting (50% wetting of micropores) and non-wetting (0% wetting of micropores) modes of membrane during operation. Additionally, a comprehensive simulation was ensembled to predict the results. In this research, 2-amino-2-methyl-l-propanol (AMP) has been employed as a relatively novel alkanolamine absorbent to separate CO₂ form CO₂/N₂ mixture. Analysis of the results implied that the wetting of membrane micropores significantly deteriorated the removal efficiency due to the enhancing mass transfer resistance towards transferring CO₂ (75% in the non-wetting mode > 8% considering 50% wetting of micropores).

Keywords: Amine solution; CFD simulation; CO2 removal; Membrane contactor; Membrane wettability.