Optimization of operational parameters for the SO2 removal from flue gas using a microporous polypropylene HFCM

Hollow fiber membrane contactor (HFMC), as an emerging technology for absorption of toxic gases, has recently attracted tremendous attention to remove SO2 from flue gas due to the high area to volume ratio, the operational flexibility and the easy linear scale up. In this work, the performance of a hollow fiber contactor membrane under different operational parameters was tested for SO2 removal from flue gas. Three experimental parameters were chosen as independent variables including the absorbent flow rate, the initial concentration of SO2 and the gas flow rate and the response surface methodology (RSM), based on central composite design (CCD) was applied to study their effects on and to optimize the efficiency of the SO2 removal. The removal efficiency was significantly affected by the initial concentration of SO2 and the gas flow rate. The optimal value of absorbent flow rate/ flue gas flow rate was found to be 0.33. Moreover, results show that the presence of CO2 in flue gas has slightly effect on the SO2 removal using pure water as absorbent in HFCM. In addition, the SO2 removal measurements as a function of the flue gas temperature and the fiber numbers exhibit the decreased efficiency with increasing the temperature from 20 to 50 ৹C and the fiber numbers from 300 to 1000.