An Aeration Membrane Absorption Seawater Flue Gas Desulfurization Process Intensified by Combining Dual-phase Flow and Oxidation Reaction

Abstract Seawater flue gas desulfurization is an important method for controlling SO2 pollution. The membrane absorption, as a promising technology, attracted more and more interest in this field. A novel aeration membrane absorption seawater flue gas desulfurization process was proposed to improve the mass transfer by the physical and chemical effect. The flow rates of seawater and flue gas considerably influenced the absorption by improving the fluent turbulence near the membrane surface. The overall mass transfer coefficient (KG) of SO2 could be increased from 1.15∼1.5 × 10-3 m/s without aeration to 1.35∼1.85 × 10-3 m/s with 5 L/min aeration flowrate. Three kinds of gas with different Oxygen content (O2, N2, air) were investigated and compared. Both of the remove rate and KG with the aeration of O2 were larger than the value with the other two. The introduced gas bubbles could bring a synergistic effect of dual-phase flow and oxidation reaction on the mass transfer of SO2, which were also proved by the fluent simulation and oxidation experiments. The morphology and hydrophobicity of membrane after long-term running was tested, which showed a decrease in hydrophobicity. Treatment with the acid solution could improve the hydrophobicity to some extent.