Low Cost Membranes for Carbon Capture

Carbon dioxide post-combustion capture is one of the leading solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants. Coal contributed to 37% of the total US electricity generation in 2012. But the burning of coal releases twice as much carbon dioxide as the burning of natural gas to generate the same amount of electricity. To solve the problem of carbon dioxide removal, membrane separation is potentially a viable approach. It has the advantages of lower energy consumption and lower operational costs. But the membranes used in this application have the problems of easy fouling, low permeability and low selectivity. Compact Membrane Systems Inc. (CMS) is proposing a novel amorphous fluorinated CO2 selective facilitated transport membrane (FTM). The membrane is expected to have high anti-fouling properties due to its fluorinated nature. This program proposes to develop a novel custom amorphous fluoropolymer (CAF) FTM membrane with high CO2/N2 selective and high CO2 flux with excellent fouling resistance. This combination of highly selective and high flux membranes will provide the needed selectivity (20+) and high CO2 transport (3000 + GPU) for converting flue gas into 90 – 95% pure CO2 for sequestering at costs of 95% purity carbon dioxide with >90% capture from flue gas for less than $30/ton, which is 50% less than conventional amine scrubbing processes. Our successful development with parallel olefin-paraffin and CO2/CH4 membranes provides both confidence that we can produce parallel CO2/N2 selective membranes and also valuable critical mass. Phase II will focus on program scale-up and also evaluation in appropriate pilot streams. Globally this technology can introduce a low- cost route for carbon capture to reduce global warming. This is arguably one of the largest technical problems facing society. The capture of CO2 from both existing and new power plants and industrial exhaust gases could significantly reduce man-made CO2 emissions. Widespread adoption of this technology would go a long way to solving the global climate change issue.