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• Coupled self-priming pump/membrane contactor system for gas-liquid mass transfer. • Performance was modelled based on O₂ concentrations in gas and liquid phases. • Larger gas-liquid flowrate ratio (Q G /Q L ) improved mass transfer at bubbly flow. • System pressurisation to 2.5 bar enhanced the gas-liquid mass transfer by 67 %. • Potential of membrane’s pores acting as micro/nano-sized reactors was discussed. In this study, the mechanisms of gas-liquid mass transfer intrinsic to membrane contactors were investigated: the traditional mechanisms of bubbleless and bubble injection were compared to a mechanism identified in hybrid ozonation membrane filtration methods. To perform this comparison, mass transfer experiments involving O 2 desorption using N 2 injection were conducted in a pilot unit integrating a membrane contactor with a gas injection system based on a self-priming gas-liquid pump. A modelling strategy was formulated to describe the ozone-water volumetric mass transfer coefficients, revealing enhanced mass transfer performance with increased gas-liquid flowrate ratios ( Q G / Q L ) under bubbly flow conditions due to improved gas hold-up. Moreover, the implementation of the contactor into a tank-pump loop, along with pressurization, boosted the overall gas-liquid mass transfer. Besides, a mechanism exclusive to the gas-liquid flow in the contactor was speculated, where the membrane’s pores would act as micro/nanoreactors, enabling a remarkable gas-liquid mass transfer performance.
Marrocos et al. (Thu,) studied this question.