Beyond Power: CO2 Capture from Industrial Sources with PolarisTM Membranes

To mitigate the harmful effects of global climate change, CO₂ from large point sources must be captured and either sequestered or utilized in processes such as enhanced oil recovery. Membrane technology is an attractive CO₂ capture option because of advantages such as simple passive operation, tolerance to acid gases and oxygen, no hazardous chemical emissions or handling issues, minimal water requirements, and near instantaneous response to process conditions.

Working with the US Department of Energy, MTR has developed new membranes and process designs to recover CO₂ from power plant flue gas. MTR Polaris membranes have CO₂ permeances at least ten times higher than standard commercial membranes, which greatly reduces the cost of a membrane capture system. For high capture rates, these membranes are combined with a novel, patented process design that uses incoming combustion air to sweep membranes and recycle CO₂ to the boiler. Since 2009, MTR has performed bench scale or small pilot field tests capturing up to 20 tons per day of CO₂ (equivalent to 1 MW_e) at a natural gas combined cycle plant, coal-fired power plants, and a boiler manufacturer research facility. These field tests have aided in further development of the Polaris membrane, refinement of the process design, and the design of a novel membrane module specifically for high-volume, low-pressure, and low-pressure drop applications. Current field tests include a 1 MW_e Gen-2 Polaris membrane system and 1 MW_e membrane-sorbent hybrid system to be tested at the Technology Centre Mongstad in Norway. MTR is also conducting a FEED study in preparation for building and operating a 10 MW_e membrane system at the Wyoming Integrated Test Center outside of Gillette, WY.

Cement and steel plants are also large point sources of CO₂ emissions and are potentially easier targets for a CO₂ capture process because the CO₂ in their flue gas tends to be more concentrated compared to power plants. In this talk, a detailed analysis of membrane-based systems for the capture of the CO₂ emitted from cement or steel production processes will be presented. Process designs, process costs and economics, and the effect of the CO₂ capture rate on the CO₂ capture cost will be discussed.