Scale-up of Membranes for Separation of Hydrogen From Syngas for Carbon Capture

In partnership with the Department of Energy (DOE) and Eastman Chemical Company, Eltron Research & Development Inc. is developing a process technology that separates hydrogen from carbon dioxide in syngas, enabling clean power generation and carbon capture in coal-fired Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plants.  The process is based on membranes that permeate pure hydrogen and retain the CO₂ at high pressure to aid its eventual sequestration.  In addition, membrane separation can achieve nearly complete carbon capture depending on process configuration.   Scale-up is in progress for the membrane technology including pilot plant testing on coal-derived syngas.  The status of the scale-up steps and recent results of the testing will be presented.