Published: July 24, 2018 |

[Click image to enlarge]

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) has selected five projects to receive approximately $6.4 million in federal funding for cost-shared research and development projects.

These projects will develop transformational technologies for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and purification, from lab scale through bench scale, for coal gasification facilities. The funding opportunity announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0001830, Transformational Pre-Combustion Carbon Capture Technologies, supports these projects.

DOE selected these projects as part of the Carbon Capture Program, which supports developing transformational, step-change technologies that are capable of transcending the cost and performance limitations of second-generation systems imposed by designs utilizing conventional equipment and processes. Projects resulting from this FOA will make progress toward meeting the overall fossil energy performance goals of CO2 capture with 95 percent CO2 purity at a cost of electricity 30 percent less than baseline capture approaches.

The National Energy Technology Laboratory will manage the projects. Project descriptions follow:

AREA OF INTEREST 1: Lab-Scale CO2 Capture Development and Testing on Simulated Syngas

• High-Temperature Ceramic-Carbonate Dual-Phase Membrane Reactor for Pre-Combustion Carbon Dioxide Capture
AZ Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ) aims to develop a new membrane reactor technology to produce a high-concentration hydrogen (H2) stream with CO2 capture. Results obtained in this project may enable the development of a bench-scale membrane reactor process that will lower costs for pre-combustion CO2 capture.

— DOE Funding: $800,000; Non-DOE Funding: $200,007; Total Value: $1,000,007

• Transformational Membranes for Pre-Combustion Carbon Capture
The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) plans to synthesize a transformational membrane material and develop a cost-effective design and fabrication process for the novel membrane technology to capture CO2 from coal-derived syngas. A high-level techno-economic analysis will be conducted with the membrane data obtained.

— DOE Funding: $799,988; Non-DOE Funding: $199,998; Total Value: $999,986

• Development of Carbon Molecular Sieves Hollow Fiber Membranes Based on Polybenzimidazole Doped with Polyprotic Acids with Superior H2/CO2 Separation Properties
The Research Foundation for SUNY on behalf of University at Buffalo (Buffalo, NY) intends to develop a highly efficient membrane-based process to capture CO2 from coal-derived syngas. Successful completion of this project could significantly advance the state-of-the-art membrane processes for pre-combustion CO2 capture.

— DOE Funding: $799,999; Non-DOE Funding: $202,225; Total Value: $1,002,224

AREA OF INTEREST 2: Bench-Scale CO2 Capture Development and Testing on Actual Syngas

• Bench-Scale Development of a Transformative Membrane Process for Pre-Combustion CO2 Capture
Membrane Technology and Research, Inc. (Newark, CA) aims to scale up a next-generation membrane technology and to validate its transformative potential in a bench-scale membrane module unit that is field tested at the Energy & Environmental Research Center. A successful project outcome could further advance the technology readiness level of this membrane technology.

— DOE Funding: $1,999,315; Non-DOE Funding: $499,827; Total Value: $2,499,142

• Development and Testing of a High-Temperature PBI Hollow Fiber Membrane Technology for Pre-Combustion CO2 Capture
SRI International (Menlo Park, CA) intends to further develop their membrane-based, transformational CO2 capture technology at bench scale for coal gasification facilities. The project will advance the cost-effective technology for removing CO2 from syngas streams of oxygen-fired coal gasifiers to the next development stage of small pilot-scale demonstrations.

— DOE Funding: $1,999,981; Non-DOE Funding: $502,400; Total Value: $2,502,381

The Office of Fossil Energy funds research and development projects to reduce the risk and cost of advanced fossil energy technologies and further the sustainable use of the Nation’s fossil resources. To learn more about the programs within the Office of Fossil Energy, CLICK HERE

To visit the National Energy Technology Laboratory’s website, CLICK HERE