Nitrogen-Selective Gas Separation using a Combined Membrane Reactor

The current state-of-the art technology for CO2 capture from point- source emitters such as coal and natural-gas fired power plants is amine scrubbing. It is not clear that this single technology will be adequate, affordable, and environmentally sound at the scale required for significant mitigation of negative effects of climate change. It is imperative that other technologies are investigated. The main objective of the proposed technology is the development of a N2-selective catalytic membrane for application to CO2 capture from natural gas and coal-fired power plants. The N2-selective membrane technology benefits from the driving force of N2 in flue gas (~73 vol.%). Application of a membrane separation technology to CO2 capture simplifies a conventional separation process (i.e., amine scrubbing) by removing the need of regeneration, thereby motivating submission into the subcategory of Process Intensification in the primary category Carbon Capture. This proposal represents the first attempt to synthesize and test membranes that selectively separate N2 from gas mixtures. The proposed efforts will focus on the computational design, synthesis, characterization and testing of alloys of V and Nb with Ru for enhanced N2 flux. Experiments will take place in a custom-built high temperature reactor available to the PI. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: In addition to CO2 capture, there are other benefits associated with this technology. For instance, metallic membranes of the type described in the proposed work may also be applicable for air separation processes, which will lead to advances in oxycombustion and gasification technologies. Through the application of selective- N2 membrane technology, ammonia could be produced at a lower energy cost than the traditional high-pressure Haber-Bosch process and the ammonia can also be used directly as a fuel to source for the agriculture industry. Finally, this membrane technology may be applied to natural gas purification.