advanced hydrogen transport membranes for coal gasification · 2020. 11. 21. · high flux achieved...

This presentation does not contain any proprietary, confidential, or otherwise restricted information 1

DOE Annual Merit Review

Joe Schwartz

Advanced Hydrogen Transport Membranes for Coal Gasification

Project # PD084DOE Annual Merit Review Meeting – May 13, 2011

Copyright © 2011 Praxair Technology, Inc.

The Recipient grants to the Government, and others acting on its behalf, a paid-up, nonexclusive, irrevocable worldwide license in such copyrighted data to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the Government.

This presentation does not contain any proprietary, confidential, or otherwise restricted information



Overview Program TimelinePhase I Budget

Barriers Addressed• K - Membrane Durability• L - Impurity Resistance• O - Operating Temperature• P - Membrane Flux• R - Membrane Cost

Total Spent(as of February 1)

DOE 1,284,368 160,519

Praxair 550,443 68,794TOTAL 1,834,811 229,313

10/10 – 12/11 1/12 – 12/13 1/14-12/14

• Phase I – Small-Scale Demonstration– 2 lb/day of hydrogen from gasifier

• Phase II – Pilot-Scale Demonstration– 100 lb/day hydrogen produced from gasifier

• Phase III – Large-Scale Design– 8000 lb/day hydrogen produced from gasifier12% Complete

Phase IIPhase I Phase III

Partners• Colorado School of Mines

– Membrane Development, Testing, Modeling

• T3 Scientific– MembraGuard™ Coating

• General Electric



Relevance - Program Goals Being Addressed

• Develop advanced energy technologies to facilitate the use of coal or coal-biomass– HTM separates hydrogen from syngas to feed combustion

turbines with no CO2 in exhaust or to use in fuel cells, which require high-purity H2

– CO2 remains at pressure for possible sequestration

• Demonstrate the separation of hydrogen from coal or coal-biomass derived syngas– Key milestone of Phase I is to demonstrate H2 separation on a

small scale– Key milestone of Phase II is to scale up the separation system

to a pre-engineering/pilot scale



Relevance – Phase I Goals

• Demonstrate HTM performance integrated with a coal gasifier to produce at least 2 lb/day of H2

• Develop contaminant management strategy

• Develop HTM manufacturing process

• Develop improved process for integrating HTM into coal gasification

• All goals based on scaling up HTM technology and integrating it with gasification to produce power and hydrogen while reducing CO2 emissions



Approach - Technology Development Pathways

• This program addresses the current barriers to commercialization– Membrane and substrate development

• Focus on developing a membrane that is resistant to contamination• Test plan includes H2S and other contaminants, life and cycling tests

– Membrane and substrate manufacturing• Focus on reducing manufacturing costs and improving reliability• Scaling up current membranes to commercial size

– Process development• Identify potential processes for HTM technology based on

gasification to produce power and hydrogen– Reactor design

• Complete reactor design and cost estimate



• Task 1 – Project Management

• Task 2 – Membrane Performance Testing– Mixed Gas Tests – syngas with and without sulfur– Develop Contaminant Management Strategy

• Evaluate MembraGuard coating from T3 Scientific– Sweep Gas Evaluation– Membrane Material Tests – evaluate different alloys– Gasifier Modification and HTM Unit Integration– Life and Cycling Tests

• Task 3 – Engineering Studies– Process Integration and Intensification– Nitrogen and Alternate Sweep Streams

• Task 4 – Teaming Arrangements– Identify and Finalize Phase II Partners– Coal Gasifier Operator

Approach – Scope of Work – Phase I



• Task 5 – Membrane Manufacturing Scaleup– Increase Tube Length

• Important for scaleup• Must minimize defect frequency• Substrate production is relatively straightforward using extrusion

– Develop Tube Coating System for Long Tubes– Reduce Number of Processing Steps

• Simultaneous plating of alloy components• Manufacture advanced substrates• Important for reducing manufacturing costs at large scale

• Task 6 – Reactor Design– Conceptual Design of Phase II Reactor– CFD Modeling

• Task 7 – Cost Estimating– Phase II Reactor– Phase II Program Definition and Budget

Approach – Scope of Work – Phase I



• Integrate HTM test unit with gasifier – Planned completion by June 30, 2011– Essential to reaching the Phase I goal– Gasifier modification might be required before integration

• Separate at least 2 lbs/day of H2 from gasifier product – Complete by November 30, 2011– Major goal of Phase I specified by DOE

• Go/No-Go Decision– DOE will select two of four current projects for continuing to

Phase II

Approach – Milestones and Go/No-Go Decision



• High flux achieved with ternary Pd-alloy membrane• Binary Pd-alloy membranes slightly higher• Mixture included H2, CO, CO2, H2O, but no sulfur

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

0 50 100 150 200Hydrogen Partial Pressure Difference (psi)

Flux

(scf

h/ft

2 ) 400 C375 C350 C325 C300 C400 C Mixture2015 DOE Target

2015 DOE Target

Technical Accomplishments – High Flux



T=300 oC ∆P=70 psi

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

0 200 400 600 800

Time (h)

Flux

(scf

h/ft2) H2

N2

1st 10th

11th 20th

Membrane Conditioning

• Twenty thermal cycles completed• Flux improvement due to membrane conditioning demonstrated

Technical Accomplishments – Thermal Cycling



0

10

20

30

40

50

60

0.000 0.050 0.100 0.150 0.200 0.250 0.300

1/thickness (1/µm)

H2 F

lux

(scc

m/c

m)

0

20

40

60

80

100H

2 Flux (SCFH/ft 2)

0 g/L EDTA

20 g/L EDTA

60 g/L EDTA

80 g/L EDTA

• EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) stabilizes electroless plating baths• High concentrations reduce flux and stability in mixed gases containing CO or CO2• Goal is to find a concentration that provides benefit without hurting performance

and durability

Technical Accomplishments – Effects of EDTA



Technical Accomplishments – Multitube Reactor

• Continuously purified almost 200 scfh of hydrogen over 100 hours• 12-tube reactor - 0, 1, or 2% CO2 in feed

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

12/6/10 12/7/10 12/8/10 12/9/10 12/10/10 12/11/10 12/12/10

H2 Feed Flow (SCFH)Retentate Flow (SCFH)Permeate Flow (SCFH)Differential Pressure (psi)PPM CO2

350-400°C



Technical Accomplishments – Membrane Scaleup

• Substrates produced by extrusion• Tubes up to 2 feet long can be produced and

coated in our current system• Current processing techniques are scalable to

larger diameters and lengths



0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Sputtered Binary Alloy B1

10 microns

Cold WorkedBinary Alloy B1

25 microns

Cold WorkedBinary Alloy B2

25 microns

Sputtered Ternary Alloy T1

33 microns

% P

ure

Gas

Per

mea

bilit

y Pure Gas WGS WGS + 20 ppm H2S

• Increased alloy metal content improves sulfur resistance over the range tested, regardless of fabrication technique

• Ternary alloy component improves sulfur tolerance.

Work done by CSM as part of DE-FC26-07NT43056 “High Permeability Ternary Palladium Alloy Membranes with Improved Sulfur and Halide Tolerances,” final report, by K. Coulter et al.

Technical Accomplishments – Sulfur Testing



0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35

1/thickness (1/micron)

Flux

(cm

3 (STP

)/cm

2 -min

)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Flux (SCFH/ft 2)

Pd Alloy B3

Pd Alloy B4

Pd Alloy B5

Pure Pd

ConditionsT = 400°C

Pfeed = 20 psig

20 10 457

thickness (microns)

• Alloys B3, B4, and B5 have better sulfur resistance than Pd• Alloys B3, B4, and B5 have shown excellent performance in mixed gas tests• Flux of alloys is not as high, but expected to be much better in H2S• Alloy B5 composition is not optimized - Significant improvement is possible

Technical Accomplishments – Alloy Development



Technical Accomplishments – MembraGuard

• MembraGuard significantly improved resistance to high sulfur content (200 ppm)• Flux was stable for over 250 hours of testing in 200 ppm H2S• Mixed gas included 50% H2, 1% CO, 30% CO2, 19% H2O, 100 ppm H2S• Some flux reduction is typical in mixed gas tests, even with no sulfur• No leak detected in mixed gas test

200ppm H2S feed0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

0 5 10 15 20Time (hours)

H2 F

lux

(scf

/ft2 -h

r)

MembraGuard

Pd

ΔP = 100 psiT = 400°C25 micron Pd membrane

T = 400°C25 micronPd membrane

100 ppm H2S



Collaborations• Colorado School of Mines

– Palladium alloy coating– Membrane testing– Reactor modeling– Gasifier testing

• T3 Scientific– MembraGuard coating for improved contaminant

resistance• General Electric

– Advisory role



Future Work – Phase I

• Identify, produce, and test alloys with high flux in mixed gas feed and good sulfur resistance

• Demonstrate MembraGuard performance using our membranes

• Demonstrate membrane performance in gasification stream

• Identify gasification partner for Phase II



Summary

• Alloys with good sulfur resistance and high flux have been identified, produced, and tested without sulfur– Plan to begin sulfur testing in 2Q11

• MembraGuard coating is underway– Initial test results expected in 2Q11

• Large membranes have been produced• Substrate manufacturing process is scalable

advanced hydrogen transport membranes for coal gasification · 2020. 11. 21. · high flux achieved...

Documents