Field trial of hollow fiber modules of hybrid facilitated transport membranes for flue gas CO2 capture in cement industry

Alarming increase in global CO2 emissions warrants acceleration of CO2 capture technologies. In this work, testing of pre-pilot scale membrane modules containing hybrid facilitated transport membranes in hollow fiber configuration is reported. The tests were carried out using real flue gas from a slipstream in the Colacem cement plant located in Gubbio, Italy. With the fabricated modules, CO2 flux of up to 750 NL m−2h−1 with a CO2 permeate purity ranging from 50 to 55 vol% was recorded. All pre-pilot membrane modules showed increased CO2 permeance in industrial testing (1.5 to 1.9x higher) compared to laboratory evaluation owing to the reliable water profile and high temperature of the flue gas from the chimney. Influence of operating parameters (e.g., pressures in the feed and permeate) were studied. Long-term testing showed no obvious reduction in permeation performance. Furthermore, the membranes with mobile carriers when exposed to the feed gas containing SOx and NOx exhibited good resistance to performance deterioration despite high concentrations of acidic impurities. Simulation studies based on validated experimental performance under industrial conditions reveal the high potential of the fabricated membranes as an efficient separation unit capable of achieving industrial capture rate and CO2 purity requirements using a relatively low membrane area