CO2 emissions from power and industrial sectors are a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. Membrane-based gas separation, particularly using facilitated transport membranes (FTMs), offers a promising alternative due to its scalability and energy efficiency. This work presents a validated Multiphysics model for spiral-wound (SW) membrane modules containing flat sheets of FTMs. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach is used to bridge a multi-component gas permeation model obtained via membrane coupon testing and the transport of gas species within the SW module channels. The model enables detailed analysis and optimization of module design by capturing key non-ideal transport phenomena—such as concentration polarization, flow channeling, and dead zones—that affect CO2 separation performance.
Model validation is performed against experimental data from a commercial-size SW module containing 41 membrane leaves and 35 m² of membrane area. For a complex feed containing CO2, N2, O2, and H2O, the predicted performance shows excellent agreement with experimental results across a wide CO2 recovery range (20–90%), with maximum relative errors in stage cut and enrichment factors below 2%. The model further exhibits flexibility by enabling extraction of CO2 permeance as a function of partial pressure, aligning well with independent coupon measurements and capturing the characteristic carrier saturation behavior of FTMs.
