Novel separation process for gas mixtures

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This proposal aims to further advance a novel process for the separation of gas mixtures of interest in cleantechnology area. The process is based on gas hydrate crystallization. Gas mixtures of interest are thosecontaining carbon dioxide and hydrogen. These gases are products of gasification and shift reactions and theirseparation provides hydrogen (a clean fuel) and also serves to capture carbon dioxide. Another area ofapplication is in flue gas mixtures (products of the combustion of fossil fuels). The key technical idea is thefact that when clathrate hydrates form from a gas mixture such as CO2/H2 or CO2/N2 the clathrate phase isenriched with CO2 and thus, the crystallization serves as a separation stage. This concept has been proven inthe laboratory at UBC using small (less than 1 L) crystallizers. In addition the concept has been proven bysimilar scale equipment in other laboratories around the world. Recently, we have developed a unique benchscale unit at UBC that consists of two 10 L high pressure crstallizers that can operate in an alternating hydrateformation/dissociation mode. The goal of the proposed project is to engage with experts from the processdevelopment industry in order to conduct a set of kinetic experiments to obtain information about he timedependence of the formation and decomposition rates in the presence of specific additives which reduce theprocess pressure and thus the process economics (demanding less compression). The additives to be consideredare: tetra-n-butyl ammonium bromide (TBAB); tetra-n-butyl ammonium fluoride (TBAF); and tetra-n-butylammonium nitrate (TBANO3). While the use of these additives reduces the pressure requirements thedrawback is that they are expected to decrease the kinetics of the process. The proposed work will elucidate theimpact of the additives on the dynamics of the process using the new UBC apparatus. The data will providecritical information for the assessment of the feasibility of the separation process for further development.