Tuesday, April 1, 2008 - 3:00 PM

Novel Hydrogen Transport Membranes (HTM) for Separation of Hydrogen from Coal-Derived Synthesis Gas

Arun C. Bose, Daniel C. Cicero, and Gary J. Stiegel. U.S. Department of Energy

DOE is supporting the development of novel, advanced HTM materials for producing hydrogen from coal gas at practical rates and enable a cost-effective, commercially viable coal-to-hydrogen production process.  In partnership with NETL, several technology developers are currently involved in a variety of HTM technology R&D efforts. 

 

Eltron Research and Development engineered novel HTM materials and, in bench-scale tests, candidate materials met DOE targets for cost, operating conditions, predicted economic life, hydrogen production rate, and product purity.  Scaled-up membrane materials and modules produced 1.5 lb/day of hydrogen from simulated coal gas at commercially-relevant operating conditions.  Southwest Research Institute prepared free-standing, 3 micron thick, 110 in2  HTMs by vacuum depositing HTM precursors on flexible supports which can be removed by water soluble release agents.  The hydrogen flux achieved thus far has met the DOE near term target.  A scale-up task is currently in progress.  Researchers at the United Technologies Research Center are focusing on atomistic and thermodynamic modeling to identify tri-metallic alloy HTM candidates with high potential for stability and commercially-relevant hydrogen permeation in the presence of trace amounts of impurities typically expected in shifted coal gas feeds.  This presentation will give technology overviews and present some on-going R&D results.