Schematic of retrofitted GO2 membrane technology to PC coal power plants

Project Description

Gas Technology Institute (GTI), in partnership with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, The Ohio State University, and Trimeric Corporation will develop a transformational graphene oxide (GO)-based membrane process for installation in new, or retrofit into existing, pulverized coal (PC) or natural gas power plants for carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture with 95 percent CO₂ purity. The process (designated as GO²) integrates two types of ultrathin (~20 nm) GO-based membranes that have shown CO₂ capture performance superior to state-of-the-art membranes at laboratory scale and enables step-change reductions in CO₂ capture cost and energy penalties. High-selectivity membranes (designated as GO-1 membranes) that exhibit CO₂/nitrogen (N₂) selectivity as high as 680 with a CO₂ permeance of 1,020 GPU and high-flux membranes (designated as GO-2 membranes) that achieve CO₂ permeances as high as 2,500 GPU using GO quantum dots as a membrane building block have been developed in a previous U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded program by GTI. In this project, GO-based membranes of flat sheet and hollow fiber geometries with an area in the range of 50 to 100 cm² will be fabricated on low-cost polyethersulfone substrates and optimized to achieve higher selectivities while maintaining high permeances. Dynamic and steady-state stability testing will be performed on scaled-up membranes of 1,000 cm², using simulated coal-fired flue gas with the GO-1 membranes and natural gas-fired flue gas with the GO-2 membranes. A bench-scale, two-stage GO² system will be constructed and will undergo testing using actual natural gas-fired flue gas at GTI, followed by long-term (>200 hours) stability testing at the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) using actual coal-fired flue gas. A techno-economic analysis will also be completed for integration of the process in a coal-fired 550-MWe power plant.

Project Benefits

Ultrathin GO-based membranes deposited on commercial polymer substrates using an advanced, scalable manufacturing procedure offer high CO₂ capture performance at low cost. The GO² technology operates as a compact, stand-alone all-membrane system, reducing up-front installation cost and enabling easy integration into a coal-fired or natural gas-fired power plant. A single GO-1 stage can achieve a 70 percent CO₂ capture rate while a two-stage GO² membrane process can achieve a 90 percent CO₂ capture rate.

Predecessor Project(s):

• FE0026383

Presentations, Papers, and Publications

• Bench-Scale Development of a Transformational Graphene Oxide-Based Membrane Process for Post-Combustion CO2 Capture (Aug 2024)
  Presented by Shiguang Li, GTI Energy
• Bench-scale Development of a Transformational Graphene Oxide-based Membrane Process for Post-combustion CO2 Capture (Jun 2024)
  Project Close-Out Presentation
• Project Technology Sheet (Sep 2022)
  
• Bench-Scale Development of a Transformational Graphene Oxide-based Membrane Process for Post-Combustion CO2 Capture (Aug 2022)
  Presented by Shiquang Li, GTI Energy, 2022 Carbon Management Project Review Meeting - Point Source Carbon Capture
• Bench-Scale Development of a Transformational Graphene Oxide-Based Membrane Process for Post-Combustion CO2 Capture (Aug 2021)
  Presented by Shiguang Li, Gas Technology Institute and Miao Yu, University of Buffalo (SUNY), 2021 NETL Carbon Management Research Project Review Meeting
• Project Technology Sheet (May 2020)
  
• Bench-Scale Development of a Transformational Graphene Oxide-Based Membrane Process for Post-Combustion CO2 Capture (Mar 2020)
  BP1 Project Review Meeting
• Bench-Scale Development of a Transformational Graphene Oxide-Based Membrane Process for Post- Combustion CO2 Capture (Aug 2019)
  Presented by Shiguang Li, Gas Technology Institute, 2019 NETL CO2 Capture Technology Project Review Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA
• Bench-Scale Development of a Transformational Graphene Oxide-Based Membrane Process for Post-Combustion CO2 Capture (Aug 2018)
  Presented by Shiguang Li, Gas Technology Institute, 2018 NETL CO2 Capture Technology Project Review Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA

Contact Information