Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
1/30/2015
Pilot testing on a new membrane-based carbon capture technology with a potential 90 percent capture rate has begun at the Department of Energy’s Carbon Capture Center in Wilsonville, Ala., DOE announced this week. The project, which will test the Polaris TM Membrane system developed by Membrane Technology and Research Inc. MTR, will be managed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory and will run up to three months, according to a DOE press release. The technology uses a CO2 selective membrane to separate the CO2 from other gasses in flue gas. “Post-combustion carbon capture has presented unique challenges for researchers,” said the NETL federal manager for the project, José Figueroa, in the release. “Membrane Technology and Research’s CO2-separation technology has been designed to address risks associated with carbon capture, at a lower cost and footprint than other conventional systems.”
The successful testing of the membrane has the potential to reduce the cost of membrane carbon capture, according to the release. Because the new system is 10 times more permeable to CO2 than conventional membranes used in gas-separation, less of the new membrane would be required to capture the same amount of CO2. This could reduce the size of the system as well as material costs. Approximately 7,500 hours of small-scale testing has been completed, and if the pilot-scale testing is successful, the developers will scale-up the testing in field tests. The testing is being done as part of NETL’s CO2-control technology research and development program.
