Development of pilot WGS/multi-layer membrane for CO2 capture

For pre-combustion CO2 capture processes, a 1 Nm(3)/h water gas shift (WGS)/multi-layer membrane system has been developed. Simulated syngas (H-2: 25-35, CO: 60-65, CO2: 5-15 vol.%) was used in these experiments. The 1 Nm(3)/h WGS/multi-layer membrane system consisted of mass flow controllers, water gas shift reactors, gas/steam separators, five layer Pd-Cu membrane module, back pressure regulator, gas chromatograph (GC) analyzers and nondispersive infrared (ND-IR) gas analyzers. The operation conditions of WGS/multi-layer membrane system were 200-400 degrees C, 10-20 bar and steam/carbon ratios in WGS were between 2.0 and 5.0. In the experiments of WGS/multi-layer membrane system, the average gas concentration before membrane module was H-2: 57-58, CO2: 42-43, CO: 0.2-0.3 vol.%. The CO2 concentration of retentate flow reached up to 80 vol.% and the H-2 concentration of permeate flow was over 99 vol.%. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.