Schematic of REM-ASU unit (left), high throughput computational screening results for optimized oxygen release (top right), and experimental validations showing increase in oxygen release capacity (bottom right)

Project Description

North Carolina State University (NCSU) will develop a redox-based, radically engineered modular air separation unit (REM-ASU) that generates oxygen (O₂) at reduced capital cost and energy consumption. Specifically, technical objectives include: (1) developing advanced steam-resistant O₂ sorbents with greater than 2 wt% O2 capacity and high activity for efficient O₂ generation without a vacuum desorption step; (2) demonstrating the REM-ASU system in a 20 kg/day test bed to validate the sorbent robustness and process performance; (3) designing the REM-ASU for integration with a 5–10 megawatt (MW) modular biomass gasifier with greater than 35% energy and cost reduction for greater than 98% O₂ generation compared to conventional ASUs. A techno-economics report and detailed commercialization plan based on information obtained from the design and operation of the pilot unit, combined with process modeling and a techno-economic analysis, will be submitted at the end of the project.

Project Benefits

Awards resulting from DE-FOA-0002400, “Clean Hydrogen Production, Storage, Transport and Utilization to Enable a Net Zero Carbon Economy,” are targeted toward developing technologies enabling clean hydrogen production, transport, storage, and use in the energy sector, including electricity, heat, transportation, and industrial use. Modularization of air separation technologies are expected to realize a cost benefit from oxygen production that is less expensive than comparable state-of-the-art methods, leading to advances in hydrogen production. Projects selected under Area of Interest 4 (AOI 4), “Advanced Air Separation for Low-Cost H₂ Production Via Modular Gasification,” are developing modular air separation technologies to support modular gasifiers (5–50 megawatt-electric [MWe] equivalent) that use mixtures of coal/waste plastics/biomass as feedstock to produce hydrogen of greater than 99% purity.

Contact Information