TY - JOUR
T1 - A review of membrane contactors applied in absorption refrigeration systems
AU - Asfand, Faisal
AU - Bourouis, Mahmoud
PY - 2015/5/1
Y1 - 2015/5/1
N2 - The use of membrane contactor technology is well-known in the process industry and can be employed in many important fields; such as separation and absorption processes, membrane distillation, pervaporation, biotechnology, food industries etc. In recent years, research has been carried out regarding the use of membrane contactors in the components of absorption refrigeration systems. The use of membrane contactors makes it realizable to design compact components with improved heat and mass transfer. Heat and mass transfer performance of the components is significantly enhanced due to the higher area to volume ratio available. Membrane based absorber and desorber allow the reduction in size of the absorption refrigeration systems to a great extent and thus absorption refrigeration technology can be used in transport and small scale applications. In this paper, the applications of membrane contactors in absorption refrigeration systems are reviewed. The application of membrane contactors in the components of absorption refrigeration systems, the configurations of refrigeration cycles that employ membrane contactors and the characteristics of the membrane contactors used in absorption refrigeration systems are all reviewed in detail. Information is collected on the choice of working fluid mixture to be used in absorption refrigeration systems that use membrane based components and the compatibility of working fluid mixtures with the membrane contactor material is discussed. The significance and limitations of using membrane contactors in absorption refrigeration systems is included in this paper.
AB - The use of membrane contactor technology is well-known in the process industry and can be employed in many important fields; such as separation and absorption processes, membrane distillation, pervaporation, biotechnology, food industries etc. In recent years, research has been carried out regarding the use of membrane contactors in the components of absorption refrigeration systems. The use of membrane contactors makes it realizable to design compact components with improved heat and mass transfer. Heat and mass transfer performance of the components is significantly enhanced due to the higher area to volume ratio available. Membrane based absorber and desorber allow the reduction in size of the absorption refrigeration systems to a great extent and thus absorption refrigeration technology can be used in transport and small scale applications. In this paper, the applications of membrane contactors in absorption refrigeration systems are reviewed. The application of membrane contactors in the components of absorption refrigeration systems, the configurations of refrigeration cycles that employ membrane contactors and the characteristics of the membrane contactors used in absorption refrigeration systems are all reviewed in detail. Information is collected on the choice of working fluid mixture to be used in absorption refrigeration systems that use membrane based components and the compatibility of working fluid mixtures with the membrane contactor material is discussed. The significance and limitations of using membrane contactors in absorption refrigeration systems is included in this paper.
KW - Absorption refrigeration
KW - Hollow fiber membrane module
KW - Hydrophobic microporous membrane
KW - Membrane contactors
KW - Plate-and-frame membrane module
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84922463256&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.rser.2015.01.054
DO - 10.1016/j.rser.2015.01.054
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:84922463256
VL - 45
SP - 173
EP - 191
JO - Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
JF - Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
SN - 1364-0321
ER -