Advanced membrane separation processes and technology for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture in power plants

Concerning CO2 capture by membrane separation, both polymeric and inorganic membranes are used in order to produce clean fuel from a mixture gas (from coal gasification or steam reforming processes). Inorganic membranes are very attractive for CO2 removal in IGCC power plants even though their costs are very high. In contrast, gas separation using polymeric membranes is today commercially available. Nevertheless, CO2 capture in large-scale power production by means of polymeric membranes still presents inadequate performances due to their lack of high-temperature stability. CO2 capture by means of membrane technology is an under-going innovative solution to be applied in combination with all types of power plants off-gas, since it presents as main benefits the possibility of using the membranes in combination with small-scale modular fuel cells. On the contrary, the main drawback related to the removal of carbon dioxide using commercially available membranes results in higher energy penalties on the power generation efficiency with respect to a conventional chemical absorption process.