Experimental study and simulation of CO2 membrane separation of coal-fired flue gas

In the work reported in this article, an experimental single-stage membrane separation system for a carbon dioxide/nitrogen (CO₂/N₂) gas mixture was built using a hollow fiber membrane. The performance of the single-stage membrane separation system was investigated under different inlet gas pressures, total flow rates of inlet gas, and CO₂ volume fractions of inlet gas. The experimental results show that, when other conditions are constant, the volume fraction of CO₂ at the permeate end increases first and then decreases with the increase of inlet gas pressure, and the recovery rate of CO₂ in the system continues to rise. When the total flow rate of inlet gas increases, the volume fraction of CO₂ at the permeate end increases gradually, while the recovery rate of CO₂ in the system decreases. The influence of the CO₂ volume fraction of inlet gas on the experimental results is shown in the following aspects: when the CO₂ volume fraction of the inlet gas increases, the volume fraction of CO₂ at the permeate end will increase significantly, and the recovery rate of CO₂ in the system will rise in volatility. This article also models the single-stage membrane separation system and compares the simulation results with the experimental results. It was found that the model can simulate the experimental results well and can be used for further research.