PRODUCTION OF HIGH-PURITY O2 VIA MEMBRANE CONTACTOR WITH OXYGEN CARRIER SOLUTIONS - PHASE 1
Title
PRODUCTION OF HIGH-PURITY O2 VIA MEMBRANE CONTACTOR WITH OXYGEN CARRIER SOLUTIONS - PHASE 1
ICCI Project ID
15/US-3
Investigator
Shiguang Li
Institution
Gas Technology Institute
ICCI Abstract
The majority of coal mined in Illinois and the US is combusted in pulverized coal (PC) power plants to generate electricity. The combustion of PC generates greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2), which is the greatest concern to climate change. To create or increase a market for Illinois coal, it is important to develop advanced CO2 capture technologies in order to maintain the cost-effectiveness of coal-fired power generation. Oxy-combustion is such a technology in which the combustion of PC in nearly pure oxygen, rather than air, presents an opportunity to simplify CO2 capture in power plant applications. Oxy-combustion power production provides oxygen to the combustion process by separating oxygen from air.
Cryogenic distillation, pressure swing adsorption, polymeric and Ionic transport membranes have been used to produce high purity O2. Among these technologies, cryogenic distillation is the most mature technology for large scale and high purity (>99%) O2 production. However, cryogenic distillation-based air separation is costly and energy-intensive to operate, accounting for up to 15% of the total gasification plant capital cost, and consuming over 35% of in-plant power use.1,3,4 We estimated oxygen production cost for the cryogenic distillation using Integrated Environmental Control Model (IECM) from Carnegie Mellon. For an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGGC) plant producing 500 MWe, net power with Illinois 6 coal and shift/Selexol for CO2 capture, the required O2 flow rate is 195 tons/h and the cost is $35.80/ton O2. This is in good agreement with DOE published data.5 As such, it is important to develop new advanced O2 production technologies with costs substantially below $35.80/ton O2.
The objective of the proposed project is to achieve the proof of concept of an innovative oxygen production technology using hollow fiber membrane contactor (HFMC) with oxygen carrier solution as solvent and air as feed to produce greater than 95% purity of O2. In the process, air is sent to a membrane absorber and passes through small-diameter membrane tubes, while a lean O2 carrier solution flows counter, currently on the shell side of the membrane. Unlike the other production alternatives, the air stream needs to be compressed to only a few psi and does not require heating as for the ion transport membranes or cooling for cryogenic separations. The O2 permeates through the membrane pores and is absorbed in the O2 carrier solution. The O2-rich carrier solution can be regenerated in a second membrane module (desorber) operated in a reverse process. In that case, the O2-rich carrier solution is fed to the shell side of the hollow fibers and a vacuum is used to draw the oxygen on the bore side of hollow fibers. Compression to process conditions for IGCC, oxy-fuels, and other applications is limited to just the concentrated O2 stream rather than the entire air feed stream with 79% of nitrogen. Minimizing compression and temperature changes will result in lower operating costs.
The goal of this technology development is to achieve an oxygen production rate with mass transfer coefficient greater than 1.0 (sec)-1 and O2 purity greater than 95% capable of being used in oxygen-intensive industries at a cost that is substantially below the current benchmarks for commercially available, stand-alone Air Separation Units (ASU).
The estimated cost including capital, operating, maintenance, and energy use for the proposed O2 separation technology is $19.94/ton O2, which is only about 56% of the benchmark cryogenic distillation ($35.80/ton O2). In addition, currently mature air separation technologies usually need to deploy various pretreatment processes to remove water, CO2, oxides of nitrogen, and hydrocarbons to ensure the process stability, economics and safety of the oxygen production. In contrast, these impurities are expected to have negligible effects on the proposed membrane contactor technology using aqueous solution of O2 carriers.
This proposed technology has potential to produce oxygen with purity as high as 99.9% for applications in IGCC, oxy-combustion, and other advanced power generation technologies, and thus create or increase a market for Illinois coal. It should also offer tremendous opportunities to improve the efficiency and cost for air separation, and thus, on the overall oxygen-intensive industries.
The Project Team is comprised of Gas Technology Institute (GTI) and University of South Carolina (USC). The proposed program utilizes each Team Member\'s unique expertise (GTI: HFMC process technology, USC: design and characterization of advanced materials for separations) that is critical to develop the proposed O2 separation HFMC technology.
The project will span 24 months and be divided into two 12-month project periods. In project year 1 (Phase 1), oxygen carriers will be screened using a vapor-liquid-equilibrium apparatus, an existing HFMC test rig will be modified to accommodate oxygen separation testing, and performance testing of HFMC with oxygen carrier solution will be initiated. In project year 2 (Phase 2), the solvent process will be optimized based on issues identified through membrane contactor tests. Membrane contactor parametric tests will also be completed for the optimized solvents. A techno-economic analysis (TEA) will then be performed based on the previous testing results.
The work proposed to ICCI will be conducted in Illinois. Facilities including GTI\'s Gas Processing Laboratory, offices for staff assigned to the project, and the GTI Analytical Laboratory at 1700 South Mount Prospect Road, Des Plaines, IL.
Cryogenic distillation, pressure swing adsorption, polymeric and Ionic transport membranes have been used to produce high purity O2. Among these technologies, cryogenic distillation is the most mature technology for large scale and high purity (>99%) O2 production. However, cryogenic distillation-based air separation is costly and energy-intensive to operate, accounting for up to 15% of the total gasification plant capital cost, and consuming over 35% of in-plant power use.1,3,4 We estimated oxygen production cost for the cryogenic distillation using Integrated Environmental Control Model (IECM) from Carnegie Mellon. For an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGGC) plant producing 500 MWe, net power with Illinois 6 coal and shift/Selexol for CO2 capture, the required O2 flow rate is 195 tons/h and the cost is $35.80/ton O2. This is in good agreement with DOE published data.5 As such, it is important to develop new advanced O2 production technologies with costs substantially below $35.80/ton O2.
The objective of the proposed project is to achieve the proof of concept of an innovative oxygen production technology using hollow fiber membrane contactor (HFMC) with oxygen carrier solution as solvent and air as feed to produce greater than 95% purity of O2. In the process, air is sent to a membrane absorber and passes through small-diameter membrane tubes, while a lean O2 carrier solution flows counter, currently on the shell side of the membrane. Unlike the other production alternatives, the air stream needs to be compressed to only a few psi and does not require heating as for the ion transport membranes or cooling for cryogenic separations. The O2 permeates through the membrane pores and is absorbed in the O2 carrier solution. The O2-rich carrier solution can be regenerated in a second membrane module (desorber) operated in a reverse process. In that case, the O2-rich carrier solution is fed to the shell side of the hollow fibers and a vacuum is used to draw the oxygen on the bore side of hollow fibers. Compression to process conditions for IGCC, oxy-fuels, and other applications is limited to just the concentrated O2 stream rather than the entire air feed stream with 79% of nitrogen. Minimizing compression and temperature changes will result in lower operating costs.
The goal of this technology development is to achieve an oxygen production rate with mass transfer coefficient greater than 1.0 (sec)-1 and O2 purity greater than 95% capable of being used in oxygen-intensive industries at a cost that is substantially below the current benchmarks for commercially available, stand-alone Air Separation Units (ASU).
The estimated cost including capital, operating, maintenance, and energy use for the proposed O2 separation technology is $19.94/ton O2, which is only about 56% of the benchmark cryogenic distillation ($35.80/ton O2). In addition, currently mature air separation technologies usually need to deploy various pretreatment processes to remove water, CO2, oxides of nitrogen, and hydrocarbons to ensure the process stability, economics and safety of the oxygen production. In contrast, these impurities are expected to have negligible effects on the proposed membrane contactor technology using aqueous solution of O2 carriers.
This proposed technology has potential to produce oxygen with purity as high as 99.9% for applications in IGCC, oxy-combustion, and other advanced power generation technologies, and thus create or increase a market for Illinois coal. It should also offer tremendous opportunities to improve the efficiency and cost for air separation, and thus, on the overall oxygen-intensive industries.
The Project Team is comprised of Gas Technology Institute (GTI) and University of South Carolina (USC). The proposed program utilizes each Team Member\'s unique expertise (GTI: HFMC process technology, USC: design and characterization of advanced materials for separations) that is critical to develop the proposed O2 separation HFMC technology.
The project will span 24 months and be divided into two 12-month project periods. In project year 1 (Phase 1), oxygen carriers will be screened using a vapor-liquid-equilibrium apparatus, an existing HFMC test rig will be modified to accommodate oxygen separation testing, and performance testing of HFMC with oxygen carrier solution will be initiated. In project year 2 (Phase 2), the solvent process will be optimized based on issues identified through membrane contactor tests. Membrane contactor parametric tests will also be completed for the optimized solvents. A techno-economic analysis (TEA) will then be performed based on the previous testing results.
The work proposed to ICCI will be conducted in Illinois. Facilities including GTI\'s Gas Processing Laboratory, offices for staff assigned to the project, and the GTI Analytical Laboratory at 1700 South Mount Prospect Road, Des Plaines, IL.
Start Date
1/1/2015
End Date
12/31/2015
Year Funded
2015
Manager
Debalina Dasgupta
Collection
Citation
“PRODUCTION OF HIGH-PURITY O2 VIA MEMBRANE CONTACTOR WITH OXYGEN CARRIER SOLUTIONS - PHASE 1,” ICCI Reports, accessed May 20, 2024, https://isgswikis.web.illinois.edu/icci_reports/items/show/852.