Final Report Summary - SPEED (Single Pore Engineering for Membrane Development)
Mankind needs to innovate to deliver more efficient, environmentally-friendly and increasingly intensified processes. The development of highly selective, high temperature, inorganic membranes and novel approaches to chemical looping are two ways to promote the transition to a low carbon economy that will result in cleaner, more efficient and safer chemical conversions.
In this project we have developed new membranes capable of not just separating carbon dioxide but of also concentrating carbon dioxide on separation. To do this the membranes harness the driving force of other gases which simultaneously cross the membrane such as oxygen.
We have developed new ways of looking inside a membrane in order to understand the processes that are occurring there. This has involved the use of single crystal membranes, which are transparent and thus allow optical and spectroscopic access to the working membrane.
We have developed a novel chemical looping process for the production of hydrogen from the water-gas shift reaction. In the case of hydrogen production the water-gas shift (WGS) reaction (water and carbon monoxide reacts to form hydrogen and carbon dioxide) is critical:
CO + H2O → CO2 + H2
Water and carbon monoxide must be mixed, fed to the reactor and hydrogen and carbon dioxide must then be separated.
Now envisage a ‘perfect’ chemical reactor. Carbon monoxide is fed to the reactor, reacts with a chemical reservoir of oxygen held within an oxygen-carrier material (OCM) in the reactor to produce carbon dioxide.
CO + OCM(ox) → CO2 + OCM(red)
When the reservoir is exhausted it is replenished by feeding water into the reactor while producing hydrogen at the same time.
H2O + OCM(red) → H2 + OCM(ox)
The cycles are then repeated. We have demonstrated such a ‘perfect’ chemical reactor that is capable of producing pure, separate streams of carbon dioxide and hydrogen.
In this project we have developed new membranes capable of not just separating carbon dioxide but of also concentrating carbon dioxide on separation. To do this the membranes harness the driving force of other gases which simultaneously cross the membrane such as oxygen.
We have developed new ways of looking inside a membrane in order to understand the processes that are occurring there. This has involved the use of single crystal membranes, which are transparent and thus allow optical and spectroscopic access to the working membrane.
We have developed a novel chemical looping process for the production of hydrogen from the water-gas shift reaction. In the case of hydrogen production the water-gas shift (WGS) reaction (water and carbon monoxide reacts to form hydrogen and carbon dioxide) is critical:
CO + H2O → CO2 + H2
Water and carbon monoxide must be mixed, fed to the reactor and hydrogen and carbon dioxide must then be separated.
Now envisage a ‘perfect’ chemical reactor. Carbon monoxide is fed to the reactor, reacts with a chemical reservoir of oxygen held within an oxygen-carrier material (OCM) in the reactor to produce carbon dioxide.
CO + OCM(ox) → CO2 + OCM(red)
When the reservoir is exhausted it is replenished by feeding water into the reactor while producing hydrogen at the same time.
H2O + OCM(red) → H2 + OCM(ox)
The cycles are then repeated. We have demonstrated such a ‘perfect’ chemical reactor that is capable of producing pure, separate streams of carbon dioxide and hydrogen.