Membrane gas separation technology for carbon dioxide removal from flue gases for industrial greenhouse gas emissions control

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In most industrialized countries, the industry sector represents one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions responsible for undesired global warming and climate change. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is by far the most significant of the GHG emissions. Emissions of CO2 have increased substantially in recent years, resulting in a higher level of CO2 in the atmosphere. For example, Canada's 2004 GHG emissions increased by approximately 27% from its 1990 levels. Both the current strict regulations, such as the Kyoto Protocol that Canada ratified, and the anticipated more stringent emission standards of the future impose technological challenges on the Canadian industry, and other sectors, in order to meet the requirements for mitigating the GHG emissions. The proposed research will ultimately benefit Canada at the three main levels, (1) Political: by offering additional options in meeting current and future national and international regulations on reducing GHG emissions; (2) Economical: by offering the Canadian industry a promising technology for removal of CO2 for emissions control, that in turn will benefit the country's economy; and (3) Environmental: by reducing CO2 emissions from the country's atmosphere. The proposed research would also effectively promote training of undergraduate and graduate students at Lakehead University. The short-term objectives of the proposal over the next five years are focused to establish fundamental and comprehensive understanding of the use of membrane CO2 removal technology for industrial emissions control applications. These objectives include, (1) investigate the effects of CO2 concentration of a simulated flue gas stream on the performance characteristics of potential types of membrane devices under isothermal operating conditions; (2) characterize the effects of non-isothermal operating conditions of a simulated flue gas stream on the performance of the membrane devices; (3) characterize CO2 separation from actual flue gas streams generated from combustion-based sources and simulate the performance of a potential device over a wide range of operating conditions; and (4) perform parametric and optimization analyses to propose an advanced CO2 membrane removal device.