Process intensification of SO2/CO2 co-capture using microscale vortex flow contactor: Mass transfer behaviors, performance modeling, and flow simulation

To achieve the simultaneous desulfurization and decarbonization by a simple, compact, and low-energy-consumption way, a microscale vortex flow contactor was developed to determine the mass transfer per-formances of SO2/CO2 co-capture with NaOH solution. Their mass transfer behavior in varying operating parameters was examined in terms of the overall gas-phase mass transfer coefficient (Kga). It was found that the K(g)a ranges from 3.04 x 10(-3) -1.46 x 10(-2) kmol/m(3).s.kPa for SO2 capture and from 8.80 x 10(-4) -3.81 x 10(-3) kmol/m(3).s.kPa for CO2 capture, respectively. The K(g)a was mainly affected by the absorbent concentration, CO2 concentrations, and liquid-gas flow rates. Furthermore, a semi-empirical correlation was proposed to model their mass transfer performances. It showed the agreement between the measurement and prediction with R-2 = 0.9851 for SO2 capture and R-2 = 0.9904 for CO2 cap -ture. Finally, the gas flow pattern inside the contactor was simulated using the computational fluid dynamics approach to address the role of gas vortex flow in mass transfer enhancement.& nbsp; (C)& nbsp;& nbsp;2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.