Physical absorption is a potential technology for economic carbon capture due to its
low energy consumption, however, the absorption efficiency of current systems must be improved.
In this study, novel hybrid absorption/stripping membrane contactors (HASMCs) for physical solvent
carbon capture are proposed. The simultaneous absorption and stripping within one module provides
instant regeneration of the solvent and results in the enhancement of absorption. HASMCs with
parallel-flow and cross-flow configurations and using empty or spacer-filled channels are investigated
by rigorous computational fluid dynamics simulation. The internal profiles of transmembrane
mass fluxes reveal that cross-flow HASMCs are much more effective than the parallel-flow ones
and the modules using spacer-filled channels give better performance than the ones using empty
channels. The mass transfer coefficients of HASMCs are much higher than predicted by correlations
in the literature.
