Synchronous Design of Membrane Material and Process for Pre-Combustion CO2 Capture: A Superstructure Method Integrating Membrane Type Selection

Abstract

Membrane separation technology for CO2 capture in pre-combustion has the advantages of easy operation, minimal land use and no pollution and is considered a reliable alternative to traditional technology. However, previous studies only focused on the H2-selective membrane (HM) or CO2-selective membrane (CM), paying little attention to the combination of different membranes. Therefore, it is hopeful to find the optimal process by considering the potential combination of H2-selective and CO2-selective membranes. For the CO2 capture process in pre-combustion, this paper presents an optimization model based on the superstructure method to determine the best membrane process. In the superstructure model, both CO2-selective and H2-selective commercial membranes are considered. In addition, the changes in optimal membrane performance and capture cost are studied when the selectivity and permeability of membrane change synchronously based on the Robeson upper bound. The results show that when the CO2 purity is 96% and the CO2 recovery rate is 90%, the combination of different membrane types achieves better results. The optimal process is the two-stage membrane process with recycling, using the combination of CM and HM in all situations, which has obvious economic advantages compared with the Selexol process. Under the condition of 96% CO2 purity and 90% CO2 recovery, the CO2 capture cost can be reduced to 11.75$/t CO2 by optimizing the process structure, operating parameters, and performance of membranes.

An Energy–Economic–Environment Tri-Objective Evaluation Method for Gas Membrane Separation Processes of H2/CO2

“…An accurate description of the membrane unit has an important impact on the membrane separation process. In this paper, a discrete model [ 21 ] is used to simulate the membrane unit, which is widely used in the simulation of membrane separation processes, details of which can be found in our previous work [ 13 ] and Figure S1 of the Supporting Information . To verify the accuracy of the adopted model, it is validated in Section 4.1 .…”

“…The total cost of membrane separation system mainly includes the investment cost of membrane units, compressors, turbines, and heat exchangers. The detailed calculation equations and method can be referred to our previous work [ 13 ]. Specific CO 2 capture cost SCC can be expressed as the following equation: …”

“…Giordano et al [ 8 ] considered different membrane process layouts and operation conditions and optimized them to obtain the minimum CO 2 capture cost. Our previous study [ 13 ] presented a superstructure method to simultaneously optimize the system structure and operation conditions for H 2 /CO 2 separation. The objective function was also CO 2 capture cost.…”

Parametrical Assessment of Polyacrylamide Polymer Membrane Used for CO2 Post-Combustion Capture

“…The solution-diffusion mechanism relies on the membrane's gas solubility and the diffusivity of the same gas via the membrane [43][44][45]. As a concept for the solution-diffusion technique, increasing the permeability of material represents a reduction in material selectivity, which can be classified as a drawback of this mechanism [46]. Different mathematical models have been extensively researched regarding solution-diffusion techniques based on gas separation membranes.…”