Numerical investigation on condensation mode of the transport membrane condenser

摘要

Transport membrane condenser is a novel device for capturing water vapor from wet flue gas, which is composed of porous ceramic membranes. The capillary condensation is once considered as the water vapor capture mechanism of transport membrane condenser. Recently, a few scholars have discovered that transport membrane condenser composed of macroporous ceramic membranes can capture more water vapor. Since the capillary condensation cannot occur in the pores of the macroporous membrane, water vapor is believed to condense on the surface of the macroporous membrane. However, there is currently no comparative study of the two condensation mechanisms. In this paper, based on the transport membrane condenser pilot scale testing platform built in a coal-fired power plant, a numerical model is established to discuss the effects of different condensation mechanisms on the performance of transport membrane condenser. Furthermore, the model is extended to the application engineering. The results show that water vapor captured by transport membrane condenser is 25-45 t/h in a 330 MW coal-fired power plant, which can reduce the amount of makeup water to some extent. The numerical model also can be used to calculate the number of ceramic membranes for engineering design.