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. 2025 Jan 21;15(1):2610.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-86468-z.

Development of a CFD simulation for the analysis of CO2 separation percentage using novel [emim][C2N3] ionic liquid solution inside the gas-liquid contactor

Adel Alhowyan  1 , Wael A Mahdi  1 , Ahmad J Obaidullah  2
Affiliations

Development of a CFD simulation for the analysis of CO2 separation percentage using novel [emim][C2N3] ionic liquid solution inside the gas-liquid contactor

Adel Alhowyan et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Growing emission of environmentally-hazardous greenhouse pollutants (especially CO2) has motivated the researchers to apply gas-liquid membrane contactors as an easy-to-operate and cost-effective technique for increasing their separation efficiency from different sources. In the current decades, ionic liquids (ILs) have shown their potential in the gas separation industry owing to their noteworthy advantages such as great capacity, excellent adjustability and suitable thermal/chemical stability compared to commonly-employed amine absorbents. This investigation aims to analytically/numerically determine the separation yield of CO2 from CO₂/N2 gaseous flow using novel -Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide ([emim][C2N3]) IL inside the gas-liquid contactor. To fulfill the ultimate purpose, a CFD simulation has been proposed using COMSOL Multiphysics software to predict the results. Comparison of model outcome with experimental data has shown brilliant concurrence with the average relative deviation of almost 5%. Evaluation of the results has shown the excellent performance of [emim][C2N3] IL for the removal of CO2 (Separation efficiency of around 100%). Finally, the effects of some module/membrane parameters on increasing or decreasing the separation efficiency has been studies in detail.

Keywords: CFD simulation; CO2 removal; Ionic liquid; Membrane contactor; Modeling.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Different prevalent techniques for the separation of gas.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Schematic demonstration of the experimental set up and the geometry of gas–liquid contactor for the separation of CO2.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Mapped meshing for different domains of membrane contactor.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Validation of model outcome with achieved experimental data. Ql = 25 ml/min, Qg = 70 ml/min, r1 = 1.375 × 10−4 m, r2 = 1.85 × 10−4 m, L = 65 mm Data was obtained by the research of Rostami et al..
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Dimensionless CO2 concentration profile through the (a) tube, (b) membrane and (c) shell of contactor using [emim][C2N3] IL.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Axial dimensionless concentration of the CO2 in tube-membrane interfacial zone.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Effect of module length on the CO2 removal utilizing emim[C2N3] IL.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
The operational effect of hollow fibers number on the CO2 separation efficiency.
Fig. 9
Fig. 9
Influence of gas flow rate on the CO2 sequestration performance utilizing emim[C2N3] IL.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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