Microfibrous Entrapped Sorbents for High Throughput Modular Process Intensified Gas Separation and Ion Exchange

Executive Summary

This project will utilize microfibrous entrapment of small particulate sorbents or ion exchange (IX) resins to overcome physical barriers and identified technology gaps that currently prevent energy efficient and cost-effective wellhead CO2/CH4 separations through pressure swing adsorption (PSA) and Cs+ removal from nuclear fuel processing streams. Both commercial cyclic adsorption processes are currently limited by heat and mass transport restrictions occurring in large particle (1-4 mm diameter) packed beds. In this project, the use of smaller particles (10-150 μm diameter) eliminates previous intraparticle mass transport restrictions resulting in effectiveness factors near unity, while particulate entrapment within sinter-locked networks of micron-diameter metal fibers (microfibrous entrapped sorbent, MFES) provides packed bed thermal conductivities that are up to 250-fold higher than those of typical packed beds. Higher thermal conductivity allows for near-isothermal operation and results in more rapid and higher duty cycles, which reduces the required sorbent load and increases the overall output of the now smaller unit. The entrapment of particulates within a flexible fibrous structure eliminates shrink/swell problems and bed channeling while maintaining a low pressure drop. For IX processes, the reduction in particle size provides an order of magnitude enhancement in IX kinetics and allows new IX resin powders to be quickly adopted without having to undergo the lengthy, expensive, performance-limiting penalties associated with large bead formulations. For both applications, the process intensification and enhancement of fundamental rate phenomena decreases system size, increases energy efficiency, decreases cost, and promotes efficacy and modularity. This methodology is a transformative platform approach that is inherently modular and broadly applicable across a wide range of catalytic or sorbent-based processes.

Technical Challenge

  • Ability of microfibrous materials to entrap small grains of highly active adsorbent or IX resin (10μm to 150μm) in a high-void volume and hydrodynamically favorable matrix
  • Minimizing pressure drop while maximizing contacting efficiency to achieve efficient adsorption and regeneration cycles

Potential Impact

The size, CAPEX, OPEX, energy consumption and performance of traditional IX and PSA systems are limited by the heat and mass transport and hydrodynamics associated with traditional designs. Implementing MFES technology to improve upon traditional packed beds will result in 50%-75% reductions in CAPEX and 65%-85% reductions in OPEX. With knowledge gained from this project, the reduced size and cost of MFES-based approaches will facilitate the further commercialization of intensified modular process units which are critical for purification and waste treatment applications. This MFES methodology enables many new IX formulations to be rapidly evaluated for facile transition to the commercial scale. For PSA-based natural gas treatment applications, the anticipated 10-fold throughput enhancement will enable the production of cost-effective modular units for gas purification that can be implemented at distributed production sites.

Resources

IntraMicron will provide its microfibrous materials manufacturing and bed-loading assets located at its two adjacent facilities (46,000 ft2) in Auburn, AL for the preparation of the microfibrous entrapped sorbents and the loading of the beds in addition to leading the modular process development and scale-up effort. The University of South Carolina is providing expertise in adsorption and dynamic adsorption process simulation. SNRL has extensive experience in R&D, design, construction, and operation of nuclear/chemical plants based on ion exchange processes. The Auburn University is providing expertise in process scale-up and materials characterization and evaluation. Oregon State University has done comprehensive module manufacturability analyses of the modular units and processes.

Investigator
Date Approved
Project Number
-
Initial TRL Level
-
Current TRL level
3
Project Funding
7,600,000
Focus Areas
Partner Organizations

IntraMicron

Engineering Technology Development and Manufacturing