Ali HAJJ Thesis defense

As global energy needs will continue to be met by fossil-fuel based sources, a viable solution to reduce CO2 emissions would be to implement carbon capture technologies. CO2 capture by absorption in amine solvents ranks among the most advanced technologies to be implemented on post combustion units. Still, its application is remains constrained large point sources with small sources remaining difficult to decarbonize. Recently, microwave heating has gained in popularity due to its characteristics of selectiveness, volumetric nature, and ease of control; on the other hand, membrane contactors are promising gas-liquid contactors due to their compacity, operational flexibility, and ease scalability in comparison to packed columns. In this work we explore the operation of chemical desorption when a hollow fiber membrane contactor by microwave heating.
A comprehensive understanding of the interactions of microwave fields and transfer phenomena is essential for the correct design, operation, and optimization of an industrial scale equipment. Hence CO2 desorption rates were experimentally studied at the local scale of a single millimetric fiber, placed in a mono-mode microwave cavity. Numerical modeling of the fiber allowed the visualization of the temperature gradients formed inside the solvent, and the corresponding local desorption rates. In parallel, a prototype-scale unit was designed for the desorption of CO2 at the scale of a hollow fiber module under microwave fields. To this end we designed a custom-design cavity was made to house a membrane module in such a manner that CO2 desorption would take place simultaneously with electromagnetic heating.