Membranes for Post-Combustion Carbon

Capture --- Current State and Future Prospects

Da-Ming Wang
a,c
, Chien-Chieh Hu
b,c
, Kueir-Rarn Lee
b,c

Kuo-Lun Tung
a,c
, Juin-Yih Lai
b,c

a
Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University
b
Department of Chemical Engineering, Chung Yuan University
c
R&D Center for Membrane Technology, Chung Yuan University
Carbon Capture
DOE Target
By 2020
have available for commercial deployment,
technologies that achieve:
90% CO
2
capture
< 35% increase in COE (cost of electricity)
Source: DOE Fossil Energy (FE)
about US$ 25/ ton CO2
Economics of Carbon Capture
by MEA absorption
Source: G.T. Rochelle, Science, 325,2009
Carbon Capture by Membranes
Mechanisms for Membrane Gas Separation
Source: Basic research needs for carbon capture: beyond 2020
Advantages of Membrane Processes
Lower energy use because no phase change
occurs during separation


Small footprint




Characterization of Membrane Performance
d
) ( /
, , A perm A feed A A
p p P j d
) ( /
, , B perm B feed B B
p p P j d
d /
A
P
permeance of A
d /
B
P
permeance of B
B A
P P /
membrane selectivity
of A over B
Membrane Development
Source: Merkel et al., Journal of Membrane Science, 359, 2010
Membrane Development
Source: Merkel et al., Journal of Membrane Science, 359, 2010
Membrane Development
Poly(ether-block-ester)
less than 50 nm thick
silica membrane
zeolite membrane
slicalite
zeolite membrane
SAPO-34
carbon molecular sieve
metal organic framework
MgMOF-74
30000 gpu, selctivity 30
Current state of CO2 capture membrane in CMT
under the support of Nation S&T program-Energy

CMT-1 membrane
Selectivity=120
Permeance=500gpu



CMT-3 membrane
Selectivity=22
Permeance=1100gpu
CMT-2 membrane
Selectivity=56
Permeance=590gpu
CMT-
1
CMT-
2
CMT-
3
Challenge of High Throughput
For a 600 MW plant, 90% CO
2
capture, 11.6 %
CO
2
in the feed, 2.1 million m
2
membranes
(1000 gpu, selectivity 50) are needed
Source: Merkel et al., Journal of Membrane Science, 359, 2010
Challenge of High Throughput
Membrane modules with high packing density
are needed

Plate and Frame ---- 200 m
2
/m
3


Hollow Fiber ---- 10,000 m
2
/m
3

1 million m
2
corresponds to 1000 m
3


Asymmetric composite membrane
Continuous flat-sheet membrane
fabrication facility
U.S. patent 7,823,530 B2 2010
Hollow fiber fabrication facility
Future perspective --- I
Develop membranes with higher CO
2
permeance
Source: Merkel et al., Journal of Membrane Science, 359, 2010
to meet DOE target
Future perspective --- II
Lower the membrane cost
To meet DOE target
3000 gpu
selectivity 100
US$ 30/m
2
Future perspective --- III
Efficient process design
enrich CO2 in the flue gas from 12% to 18%
reduce membrane area from 2.1 to 1.3 million m
2


Source: Merkel et al., Journal of Membrane Science, 359, 2010
Future perspective --- IV
To reduce footprint, hollow fiber modules are needed
Large-scale demonstration is needed
The largest membrane unit under test is 20 tons CO
2
/day
Source: CO2 capture technology, Global CCS Institute
Membrane contactor for
CO2 capture
Hydrophobic hollow-fiber membranes are used to provide
the gas-liquid contact surface area
Set up a membrane contactor unit
capacity 5 m
3
/h
Stretching system
Preparation of PP hollow-fiber membranes
Research work at R&D center for
membrane technology, Chung Yuan
University
II
Current State and future perspective of
CO
2
capture by membrane processes
I
Conclusions
Acknowledgement
National Science and Technology Program -- Energy
Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan
LCY company, Taiwan
R&D Center for Membrane Technology
Awarded CoE Program on Membrane Technology
from Ministry of Education in 2006
R&D enter for embrane echnology