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

在大多数工业化国家，工业部门是造成不受欢迎的全球变暖和气候变化的最大温室气体排放源之一。二氧化碳（CO2）是迄今为止最重要的温室气体排放。近年来，CO2的排放量大幅增加，导致大气中的CO2含量增加。例如，加拿大2004年的温室气体排放量比1990年的水平增加了约27%。目前严格的法规，如加拿大批准的《京都议定书》，以及预期的未来更严格的排放标准，都对加拿大工业和其他部门提出了技术挑战，以满足减少温室气体排放的要求。拟议的研究最终将在三个主要层面上使加拿大受益，（1）政治：通过提供更多的选择，以满足当前和未来关于减少温室气体排放的国家和国际法规;（2）经济：通过为加拿大工业提供一种有前途的技术，以消除二氧化碳控制排放，这反过来将有利于该国的经济;和（3）环境：通过减少该国大气中的二氧化碳排放量。拟议的研究也将有效地促进湖首大学本科生和研究生的培养。该提案在未来五年内的短期目标是建立对膜CO2去除技术在工业排放控制应用中的基本和全面理解。这些目标包括：（1）研究模拟烟道气流的CO2浓度对等温操作条件下潜在类型的膜装置的性能特性的影响;（2）表征模拟烟道气流的非等温操作条件对膜装置的性能的影响;（3）表征从基于燃烧的源产生的实际烟道气流中分离CO2的特性，并模拟潜在装置在宽范围的操作条件下的性能;（4）进行参数和优化分析，以提出先进的CO2膜去除装置。

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.