(285e) Carbon Capture from Flue Gases Using an Integrated Membrane Skid at ~1 Tonne CO2/Day Scale | AIChE

(285e) Carbon Capture from Flue Gases Using an Integrated Membrane Skid at ~1 Tonne CO2/Day Scale

Authors 

Han, Y. - Presenter, The Ohio State University
Prasad, B., The Ohio State University
Pang, R., The Ohio State University
Ho, W. S. W., The Ohio State University
Large-scale application of membrane in decarbonizing flue gas has been limited by the insufficient CO2/N2 selectivity of most polymeric materials and the unproven thin membrane fabrication at scale. Aiming to overcome these limitations, a novel facilitated transport membrane (FTM) containing polyguanidine as fixed-site carrier was synthesized in a thin-film composite configuration. The FTM was also scaled up to 20" in width by a roll-to-roll process. A prototype spiral-wound (SW) membrane module was fabricated with a commercial-size diameter of 8" and a membrane area of 35 m2. This SW module was tested with an actual coal flue gas at the Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER) at the University of Kentucky, which exhibited an average CO2 permeance of 4269 GPU with a CO2/N2 selectivity of 165 and remained stable for 100 h.

An integrated membrane skid was then constructed, where 2 SW membrane modules were arranged to form an enriching cascade. The 8"-diameter prototype SW module previously tested at CAER was installed as the primary CO2 capture stage, while a smaller SW module (5" diameter and 12 m2 membrane area) was used to further enrich the CO2 to >95% purity. By using a simulated coal flue gas (13% CO2), the skid was operated at steady-state for 800 h with 91.0% of the CO2 removed from the flue gas, delivering 1.33 tonne/day CO2 product at 95.5% dry purity.

The bench skid was then installed at the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC), Wilsonville, AL and tested with an actual natural gas (NG) flue gas (8.6% CO2). 90–99% CO2 capture degrees were demonstrated during the parametric testing, and the skid was operated at steady state for 500 h cumulatively with 91.0% CO2 capture and >95% CO2 purity. A simulated natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) flue gas (4.3% CO2) slipstream was further provided by diluting the NG flue gas with air, and 90–99% CO2 capture degrees were also achieved with dry CO2 purities all above 95%.