Effect of temperature and flow rate on parallel flow co2 absorption by distilled water in co-current microchannel device / Efeito da temperatura e taxa de fluxo na absorção paralela de co2 por água destilada em dispositivo de microcanal co-atual

Mass transfer is a transport phenomenon that has great importance in chemical processes, especially in the processes of separation and absorption. The study of this phenomenon between phases carried out in channels has been developed in smaller scales, seeking to intensify the processes, increasing the mass transfer coefficients. To prove that these studies could be performed at low costs, a pure carbon dioxide absorption by distilled water was performed in a PMMA microchannel designed with 0.008 m of hydraulic diameter.  A parallel and stratified flow was achieved in the channel and all experiments had this flow characteristics throughout the changes in operating conditions. In the study, the Reynolds numbers were quantified, corresponding to the interval 212-563. These parameters were acquired by varying the gas surface velocity in the range of 0.46-1.84 m/s and the liquid surface velocity in the range of 0.034-0.071 m/s. The mass transfer quantification was also performed by calculating the volumetric mass transfer coefficient for different operating conditions, which included the surface velocities of the phases and the operating temperature of the system. The results of this work allow the analysis of the effects of temperature and flow characteristics between the liquid and gaseous phases on the mass transfer efficiency in channels. This paper shows that a higher mass transfer coefficient can be achieved in microchannels and that the results show the superiority of these systems compared to conventional mass transfer equipment such as bubble tower, spray tower and static mixers.