BACKGROUND: Removal of sulfur dioxide from gas emissions by selective absorption is a common method to separate and concentrate sulfur dioxide and to reduce air pollution and environmental risks. N,N-dimethylaniline is an organic solvent used in some industrial applications for its sulfur dioxide affinity, leading to a regenerative process. However, the use of scrubbers and equipment in which direct contact between gas and liquid takes place leads to solvent losses due to evaporation and drops dragging. RESULTS: In this work, an innovative procedure based on non-dispersive absorption in a ceramic hollow fibre membrane contactor was studied in order to avoid drops dragging. The absorption efficiency ranged between 40 and 50%, showing the technical viability of the process. The sulfur dioxide flux through the membrane has a linear relationship with the concentration of SO, in the gas stream and an overall mass transfer coefficient K-overall = (1.10 +/- 0.11) x 10(-5) ms(-1) has been obtained. CONCLUSIONS: The mass transfer behaviour of a ceramic hollow fibre membrane contactor for sulfur dioxide non-dispersive absorption in N,N-dimethylaniline has been studied. The main resistance is found to be the ceramic membrane and the effective diffusivity has been inferred. The mass transfer model and parameters allow the evaluation of equipment design for technical applications. (C) 2008 Society of Chemical Industry