The advantages of the membrane contactor are: large exchange interface and independent hydrodynamics make the operation easy to control. These membrane systems are generally low-cost hollow fiber membranes, which provide much larger two-phase interface area than the interface area of most conventional absorption towers, and thus have a high total mass transfer rate. In addition, the design of traditional devices is limited by the relative flow of fluids, while the effective interface provided by membrane contactors is not affected by liquid hydrodynamics. Membrane crystallizer, membrane emulsifier, membrane gas lift scrubber, membrane distillation system and membrane extractor can be designed to integrate with the existing membrane operation on the production line to achieve a higher level of molecular separation, and chemical conversion process using selective membrane and membrane reactor can overcome the limitations of the traditional membrane process (e.g. the osmosis effect of reverse osmosis concentration). Surprisingly, although these systems are "young", the potential of these membrane systems was discovered and proposed as early as the early 20th century.

"Membrane Contactor--Principle, Application and Development Prospect"

【Italy】Enrico Drioli, Alessandra Criscuoli, Efrem Curcio

Definition

Membrane contactor is a membrane system used to realize two-phase contact. Contrary to the traditional concept of membrane as a selective separation medium, the membrane does not have any selectivity for each component, but only acts as a barrier between phases, so that the phases can contact at a certain interface. The two phases separated by the capsule do not mix and disperse with each other, and the components are transferred from one phase to another only by diffusion.

Membrane Contactor System and Its Corresponding Conventional Operation

Common Process of Mass Transfer Power for Membrane Contactors