A Zeolite Membrane for Separation of Hydrogen from Process Streams

A Zeolite Membrane for Separation of Hydrogen from Process Streams DOE Grant No. DE-FG03-98ER86084 Amount: $100,000 Small Business TDA Research, Inc. 12345 West 52nd Avenue Wheat Ridge, CO 80033-1916 Mr. Jack D. Sibold, Principal Investigator Mr. Michael Karpuk, Business Official (303) 940-2345 Research Institution Colorado School of Mines 1500 Illinois Street Golden, CO 80401 Although hydrogen is potentially the fuel of the future to overcome concerns with CO2 emissions, a near term solution is to increase the hydrogen/carbon ratio in transportation fuels. Unfortunately, refineries already have a shortage of affordable hydrogen even though they have large volumes off-gas streams that contain 20-50% hydrogen. This hydrogen debt problem will be addressed by developing a hydrogen selective zeolite membrane and module to recover hydrogen from off-gas refinery streams. In Phase I, a small pore supported zeolite membrane will be developed that demonstrates hydrogen selectivity to light hydrocarbons. Single gas and mixed gas measurements will be measured and compared to computer simulations of the adsorption and diffusion of these zeolites. These results will be used in an engineering analysis to determine the process economics of using these zeolite membranes for hydrogen separation. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described the awardee: Supported zeolite membrane modules should be capable of high hydrogen separation factors and fluxes. Separation of hydrogen from mixed gas streams is expected to have a significant bottom-line effect on a number of large industrial processes (e.g. ammonia production, refinery operations, methanol synthesis, paraffin to olefin conversions, etc.)._