SBIR Phase I: Novel Solid State Facilitated Transport Membranes for Carbon Dioxide Removal

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）一期项目的重点是开发用于分离二氧化碳/氢和二氧化碳/甲烷混合物的新型固态促进运输膜。目前最好的技术是胺吸收或变压吸附，两者都是昂贵的，能源密集型的过程。该项目的主要目标是以固体聚合物电解质的形式提供一种新型的便利运输膜。为了提供高的气体通量，将形成薄膜复合材料。初步研究表明，固体聚合物电解质复合膜的性能明显优于传统的易输运膜和聚合物膜。从天然气和含氢的炼油厂废气中分离二氧化碳为膜基气体分离提供了重要的机会。美国约17%的天然气需要经过处理才能去除二氧化碳。在精炼厂中，氢气通常是通过天然气或轻烃的蒸汽重整产生的，必须与作为副产品产生的二氧化碳分离。在这两种应用中，膜分离提供了许多优于胺吸收或变压吸附的优点。然而，与传统分离技术相比，需要更具选择性和坚固性的膜来实现这些经济效益，这就是开发固体聚合物电解质复合膜的原因。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project focuses on the development of novel solid state facilitated transport membranes for the separation of carbon dioxide/hydrogen and carbon dioxide/methane mixtures. Current best technologies are amine absorption or pressure-swing-adsorption both expensive, energy intensive processes. The key objective of this project is to deliver a new type of facilitated transport membrane in the form of a solid polymer electrolyte. To provide high gas fluxes, the membranes will be formed as thin-film composites. Preliminary studies indicate that solid polymer electrolyte composite membranes can show significantly improved performance over conventional facilitated transport and polymeric membranes.Separation of carbon dioxide from natural gas and from hydrogen-containing refinery off-gases in refineries present a significant opportunity for membrane-based-gas separation. About 17% of U.S. natural gas requires processing to remove carbon dioxide. In refineries, hydrogen is typically produced by steam reforming of natural gas or light hydrocarbons and must be separated from carbon dioxide, which is produced as a by-product. Membrane separation offers many advantages over amine absorption or pressure-swing adsorption in these two applications. However more selective and robust membranes are needed to achieve these economics over conventional separation technology and this is reason for developing solid polymer electrolyte composite membranes.