Investigating the performance of PES and PC hollow fiber membranes in air humidification

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Sustainable Membrane Technology Research Group (SMTRG), Faculty of Petroleum, Gas and Petrochemical Engineering (FPGPE), Persian Gulf University (PGU), P.O. Box 75169-13798, Bushehr, Iran

2 Persian Gulf University

3 Faculty of Petroleum, Gas and Petrochemical Engineering (FPGPE), Persian Gulf University (PGU),P.O. Box 75169-13817, Bushehr , Iran

Abstract

In this study a hollow fiber membrane contactor system with co-current flow configuration was proposed. Two different hollow fiber membranes made of Polyethersulfone (PES) and Polycarbonate (PC) were produced and their humidification performance for use in air conditioning systems was investigated. For different inlet air dry bulb temperature (25°C, 30°C, 35°C) and relative humidity (20%, 30%, and 40%), the behavior of the membrane system was experimentally studied. The effect of various inlet conditions on the outlet air dry bulb temperature, water vapor flux and cooling capacity of the system for two different hollow fiber membranes were studied. The results showed that the outlet air temperature, water vapor flux and maximum cooling capacity of PES membranes were about 19 °C, 0.007 mol/m2.s and 1.2 W, respectively which is higher than PC membranes because of its higher surface porosity and having superior membrane structure. The final outcome of the experiments further showed that by increasing the entrance air temperature at constant air relative humidity, water vapor flux increased.

Keywords

References

[1] M. Farmahini-Farahani, S. Delfani, J. Esmaeelian, Exergy analysis of evaporative cooling to select the optimum system in diverse climates, Energy, 40 (2012) 250-257.
[2] X. Chen, Y. Su, D. Aydin, Y. Ding, S. Zhang, D. Reay, S. Riffat, A novel evaporative cooling system with a polymer hollow fibre spindle, Applied Thermal Engineering, 132 (2018) 665-675.
[3] S. Englart, Use of a membrane module for semi-direct air evaporative cooling, Indoor and Built Environment, (2019) 1420326X19877510.
[4] S. Englart, Comparison heat and mass transfer coefficients in the shell side of the hollow fiber membrane module, in:  E3S Web of Conferences, EDP Sciences, 2018, pp. 00040.
[5] M. Ali, O. Zeitoun, H. Al-Ansary, A. Nuhait, Humidification technique using new modified MiniModule membrane contactors for air cooling, Advances in Mechanical Engineering, 5 (2013) 174016.
[6] F. Abdollahi, S. Hashemifard, A. Khosravi, T. Matsuura, Heat and mass transfer modeling of an energy efficient Hybrid Membrane-Based Air Conditioning System for humid climates, Journal of Membrane Science, (2021) 119179.
[7] G. Bakeri, S. Naeimifard, T. Matsuura, A. Ismail, A porous polyethersulfone hollow fiber membrane in a gas humidification process, RSC Advances, 5 (2015) 14448-14457.
[8] L.-Z. Zhang, S.-M. Huang, Coupled heat and mass transfer in a counter flow hollow fiber membrane module for air humidification, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 54 (2011) 1055-1063.
[9] Z. He, C. Liang, Experimental Study on Energy and Exergy Analysis of a Counter Hollow Fiber Membrane-based Humidifier, International Journal of Energy and Power Engineering, 9 (2020) 95.
[10] X. Chen, Y. Su, D. Aydin, X. Zhang, Y. Ding, D. Reay, R. Law, S. Riffat, Experimental investigations of polymer hollow fibre integrated evaporative cooling system with the fibre bundles in a spindle shape, Energy and Buildings, 154 (2017) 166-174.
[11] L.-Z. Zhang, Heat and mass transfer in a randomly packed hollow fiber membrane module: a fractal model approach, International Journal of heat and mass transfer, 54 (2011) 2921-2931.
[12] L.Z. Zhang, Mass diffusion in a hydrophobic membrane humidification/dehumidification process: the effects of membrane characteristics, Separation science and technology, 41 (2006) 1565-1582.
[13] S.A. Hashemifard, A. Khosravi, F. Abdollahi, Z. Alihemati, M. Rezaee, Synthetic polymeric membranes for gas and vapor separations, in:  Synthetic Polymeric Membranes for Advanced Water Treatment, Gas Separation, and Energy Sustainability, Elsevier, 2020, pp. 217-272.
[14] X. Cui, W. Yan, X. Chen, Y. Wan, K.J. Chua, Parametric study of a membrane-based semi-direct evaporative cooling system, Energy and Buildings, 228 (2020) 110439.
[15] A. Samimi, S.A. Mousavi, A. Moallemzadeh, R. Roostaazad, M. Hesampour, A. Pihlajamäki, M. Mänttäri, Preparation and characterization of PES and PSU membrane humidifiers, Journal of membrane science, 383 (2011) 197-205.
[16] S. Bergero, A. Chiari, Experimental and theoretical analysis of air humidification/dehumidification processes using hydrophobic capillary contactors, Applied Thermal Engineering, 21 (2001) 1119-1135.
[17] E. Drioli, A. Criscuoli, E. Curcio, Membrane contactors: fundamentals, applications and potentialities, Elsevier, 2011.
[18] A. Chiari, Air humidification with membrane contactors: experimental and theoretical results, International journal of ambient energy, 21 (2000) 187-195.
[19] D.W. Johnson, C. Yavuzturk, J. Pruis, Analysis of heat and mass transfer phenomena in hollow fiber membranes used for evaporative cooling, Journal of Membrane Science, 227 (2003) 159-171.
[20] L.-Z. Zhang, Z.-X. Li, T.-S. Zhong, L.-X. Pei, Flow maldistribution and performance deteriorations in a cross flow hollow fiber membrane module for air humidification, Journal of membrane science, 427 (2013) 1-9.
[21] M. Yang, S.-M. Huang, X. Yang, Experimental investigations of a quasi-counter flow parallel-plate membrane contactor used for air humidification, Energy and buildings, 80 (2014) 640-644.
[22] S. Englart, An experimental study of the air humidification process using a membrane contactor, in:  E3S Web of Conferences, EDP Sciences, 2017, pp. 00021.
[23] G. Bakeri, A Comparative Study on the Application of Porous PES and PEI Hollow Fiber Membranes in Gas Humidifcation Process, Journal of Membrane Science and Research, 5 (2019) 11-19.
[24] X. Cui, W. Yan, Y. Liu, M. Zhao, L. Jin, Performance analysis of a hollow fiber membrane-based heat and mass exchanger for evaporative cooling, Applied Energy, 271 (2020) 115238.
[25] R. Naim, A. Ismail, Effect of polymer concentration on the structure and performance of PEI hollow fiber membrane contactor for CO2 stripping, Journal of hazardous materials, 250 (2013) 354-361.
[26] S. Chabot, C. Roy, G. Chowdhury, T. Matsuura, Development of poly (vinylidene fluoride) hollow‐fiber membranes for the treatment of water/organic vapor mixtures, Journal of applied polymer science, 65 (1997) 1263-1270.
[27] I. Jesswein, T. Hirth, T. Schiestel, Continuous dip coating of PVDF hollow fiber membranes with PVA for humidification, Journal of Membrane Science, 541 (2017) 281-290.
[28] C. Barth, M. Goncalves, A. Pires, J. Roeder, B. Wolf, Asymmetric polysulfone and polyethersulfone membranes: effects of thermodynamic conditions during formation on their performance, Journal of Membrane Science, 169 (2000) 287-299.
[29] Y.-H. Zhao, B.-K. Zhu, X.-T. Ma, Y.-Y. Xu, Porous membranes modified by hyperbranched polymers: I. Preparation and characterization of PVDF membrane using hyperbranched polyglycerol as additive, Journal of membrane science, 290 (2007) 222-229.
Journal of Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Technology
Volume 8, Number 2
December 2021
Pages 25-35

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics