Towards a pilot-scale membrane system for pre-combustion CO₂ separation

A multi-organization and multi-national team from the utility, manufacturing, business and research sectors of the power generator industry has been assembled to further develop and scale-up a membrane based CO₂ capture system for the pre-combustion capture of carbon dioxide from solid fuels. This next generation system is based on a polybenzimidazole (PBI) membrane originally developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory. Hollow fibers based on a selective layer of PBI onto a porous substrate have been produced. It has been demonstrated that this selective layer can be placed on either the outside (shell side) or inside (lumen side) of the fiber. An Aspen process simulation has also been constructed and benchmarked against the literature. Initial results indicate that the increase in cost of electricity (COE) for the PBI based capture system is significantly less than that of a Selexol based capture system. The rapid commercialization of this PBI membrane is being conducted utilizing The Five Disciplines of Innovation in order to insure end user input at early stages.