Low-Pressure Membrane Contactors for Carbon Dioxide Capture

DE-FE0007553

−Richard Baker, Ken Chan, Brice Freeman, Don Fulton, Jennifer Ly,

Pingjiao Hao, Jay Kniep, Vincent Nguyen, Ivy Huang (MTR)

−Glenn Lipscomb, Terry Lou (University of Toledo)

NETL CO2 Capture Technology Meeting Thursday July 31, 2014

Project Overview

• Award name: Low-Pressure Membrane Contactors for CO2 Capture • Project period: 10/1/11 to 9/30/14 • Funding: $ 3.0 million DOE; $1.0 million MTR • DOE project manager: Mike Mosser • Participants: MTR, University of Toledo • Project scope: Develop compact large membrane area (> 500 m2), low

pressure drop plate-frame sweep module for CO2 capture application. • Project plan: The key project work organized by budget period is as follows:

– BP1: Construct prototype laboratory modules (20m2), select components, develop fabrication technology.

– BP2: Scale up production to 1m x 1m pilot scale modules (100m2), demonstrate with lab test system that modules meet CO2 separation performance and pressure drop targets.

– BP3: Scale up to full scale module (> 500 m2), show modules meet all performance targets. Be ready to test at NCCC.

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MTR CO2 Capture Team

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Tim Merkel Director of R&D

Xiaotong Wei 1MWe Demo Project

DE-FE0005795

Prof. Glenn Lipscomb

U. Toledo

CFD – Tomography Studies Module Design

Membrane Production

Group – Steve White Jennifer Ly

Engineering Support –

Saurabh Pande Don Fulton

Module Production and Testing –

Ivy Huang Ken Chan

Vincent Nguyen

Device Development

Brice Freeman Membrane Hybrid Project

DE-FE0013118

Pingjiao Hao MTR CFD &

U Toledo Liaison

Jay Kniep Project Manager

Richard Baker Project PI

DE-FE0007553

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A separation is performed at a minimal energy cost.

The MTR Membrane Contactor

A Way of Generating an Affordable (Partial) Pressure Difference

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Coal Power Plant with a Membrane CO2 Pre-Concentrator

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Coal Power Plant with a Membrane CO2 Pre-Concentrator

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Current Approach Uses Modified Spiral-Wound Modules

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Each module contains 20 to 50 m2 of membrane.

Module Pressure Drop is Key

• 1 psi = 3 MWe for a 500 MWe plant

• Best spirals still have a 4 psi pressure drop on the sweep side

• Need to develop a module for this application

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0

5

10

15

20

25

30

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Sweep SidePressure Drop (psi)

Year

Spiral Wound Modules

Plate and Frame Module

Project TargetArea

The Issues and Solutions

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– Skid packing density

– Manifolding

– Footprint

– A sweep process

– Needs low pressure drop

Large area modules, compact skids

Needs wide, straight channels on both sides of the membrane

Two Membrane Contactor Designs

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Countercurrent

Cross-flow

– Most efficient – Difficult to make

– Uses 40% more membrane area – Easier to make

Progress to Date (DE-FE0007553)

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• BP1 – Footprint: 0.3 m x 0.6 m – Modules: 20 m2

• BP2 and BP3 – Footprint: 1 m x 1 m – Modules: 100 m2

100 m2 Membrane Module

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100 m2 Membrane Module Details

• 60 – 70 individual membrane envelopes

• Weighs 100 kg completely assembled

• Has ~200 m of glue line seals (no leaks)

• Has the equivalent membrane area of 5 – 8” spiral wound membrane modules

• Sweep side pressured drop <0.5 psi

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Our Concept

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A single 100 m2

module element

50 Module elements connected to make a 5000 m2 module

Large-Area Plate-and-Frame Modules

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Membrane Module Skid Total Cost

$20/m2 $10/m2 $20/m2 $50/m2 + + =

50 Module elements connected to make a 5000 m2 module

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Feed Direction

Sweep Direction

Membrane Contactor with Vessel

Test System

Membrane Module and Test System

500 m2 Skid for Testing at NCCC

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100 m2 Module Sweep Side Pressure Drop

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0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0 20 40 60 80 100

Sweep air flow rate (SCFM)

Sweep sidepressure drop

(psid)

Module #8

2.5 psig

5 psig

12.76 psig

Feed side pressure

8 psig

12 psig

Sweep side air flow and pressure drop changes with membrane characteristics and operating conditions, but the effect is consistently small.

1 bar feed 1000 gpu

1 bar feed 2000 gpu

2 bar feed 1000 gpu

Module operating conditions

Various Module Flow Designs

Design

Membrane area needed compared to

countercurrent Countercurrent (CC)

100%

Cross-flow (XF)

137%

Partial countercurrent

108% Series cross-flow

126%

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What’s Next

Accomplishments to Date • 100 m2 defect free modules made • Pressure drops reduced to < 0.5 psi. • Five module (500 m2) skid made and ready for

NCCC test. Next Steps • Test five module skid at NCCC • Scale up plan to get module skid cost to $50/m2

implemented. 20