Status and Outlook: Membrane contactors for CO 2 removal

Transcription

1 Status and Outlook: Membrane contactors for CO 2 removal Utrecht, December Earl Goetheer Technology Manager TNO Science & Industry E: earl.goetheer@tno.nl T: Peter van den Broeke Technology Manager TNO Science & Industry E: peter.vandenbroeke@tno.nl T:

2 Content Principles of Membrane Gas Absorption Current applications Perspective and Development 2

3 Absorber Post Combustion Capture Large and expensive equipment Typical full scale: ~4 towers of meters diameter 45% of total equipment cost 3

4 Membrane Gas Absorption: Principle Gas-Liquid contacting Species (CO2, SO2) present in the flue gas are selectively absorbed into an absorption liquid through a porous hollow fiber membrane 4

5 Membrane Gas Absorption: Principle Operational advantages Independent G/L control Optimal loading of absorption liquid No entrainment, flooding or foaming Modular equipment Economical advantages Low investment costs Low pumping power Compact low weight equipment Cross flow membrane module Easy scale up through modular design Good distribution of liquid and gas flows Different flow patterns possible Excellent mass transfer properties Low pressure drop 5

6 Mass transfer in MGA Liquid Gas Resistances in series model: R o =R l +R m +R g or Porous membrane (gas filled) 1/K o =H/E*k l +1/k m +1/k g 6

7 Typical flow sheet 7

8 Design aspects Breakthrough pressure Long term stability Mass transfer Scale-up 8

9 Breakthrough pressure Laplace-young equation Δp = -2(γ/r).cosΘ in which Δp : Pressure differential γ : Surface tension of liquid r : pore radius Θ : Contact angle 9

10 Example: PTFE Hollow Fibre module (UoR) 10

11 PTFE Hollow Fibre module (UoR) Mass transfer rate comparison structured packing versus PP/PTFE MC Effect of time on membrane performance 11

12 Experimental Set-up 12

13 PP membranes (TNO) PP membrane module manufactured PP membrane module under test 13

14 Membrane cell 14

15 Spacer Characterization Experiments Spacer configurations Spacer 1 Spacer 2 Spacer 3 Spacer 4 15

16 Spacer Characterization Experiments Spacer configurations Spacer 5 Spacer 6 Spacer 7 16

17 Spacer Characterization Experiments Results Liquid side mass transfer coefficients 17

18 Spacer Characterization Experiments Results Pressure drop considerations 18

19 Selection of membrane material 19

20 PP membranes (TNO) = PTFE 20

21 Real life test PP membranes Hollow fiber Flat sheet Transversal Real flue gas tests at DONG coal fired power plants 21

22 Micro plant Hollow fiber modules tested with complete absorption/regeneration system Unit tested at Dong site in Esbjerg Long term effect on membrane module and absorption liquid 22

23 Membrane Gas Absorption: Module Development Lab scale test module Length * Height * Width = 0.1 m * 0.1 m * 0.05 m Effective membrane surface: 0.05 m2 Pilot scale module Length * Height * Width = 0.2 m * 0.3 m * 0.05 m Effective membrane surface: 1.2 m2 Specific area/volume = 280 m2/m3 Width liquid channel = ± 2 mm Full scale module Length * Height * Width = 1.5 m * 0.5 m * 0.14 m Effective membrane surface: 40 m2 Specific area/volume = 450 m2/m3 Width liquid channel = ± 2 mm 23

24 Realisation NL post-combustion capture test facility Characteristics New test facility for demonstration of TNO solvent technologies (solvents and membrane contactors) Scale 250 kg/h CO 2 Flue gases from coal firing Experimental programme (2009) Process and solvent validation without membranes SO 2 removal using membrane gas absorption CO 2 removal using membrane gas absorption Status Data interpretation 24

25 Intermezzo: Spacecraft Demonstrator 25

26 Intermezzo: CO 2 -control in submarines Maintaining CO 2 -levels at 0.5% Conventional flow sheet with thermal regeneration Porous polypropylene membranes Transversal-flow membrane absorber at room temperature Demonstrator at full scale 26

27 Regeneration with dense contactor membranes strategic co-operation with Topchiev Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis 27

28 Desorption membranes (TIPS/TNO) New membranes manufactured by TIPS New membraned tested by TIPS and TNO (at TNO) 28

29 Desorption membranes (TIPS/TNO) Concept PVTMS+MEA: mass balance of CO2 in absorption (in) and desorption (out) units. 29

30 Desorption membranes (TIPS/TNO) Overview results Flux, g/m 2 min CO 2 Condensate Total Ratio CO 2 /Solvent PTFE+ CORAL * PVTMS+CORAL PVTMS+MEA

31 Conclusions Potential for membrane contactor as absorber Challenges: Fouling Large scale module design Scale-up issues Next phase: Long term duration test with real flue gas 31

32 Acknowledgements CASTOR 32