The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) has selected five projects to receive approximately $6.4 million in federal funding for cost-shared research and development projects. These projects will develop transformational technologies for carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture and purification, from lab scale through bench scale, for coal gasification facilities. The funding opportunity announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0001830, Transformational Pre-Combustion Carbon Capture Technologies, supports these projects.

DOE selected these projects as part of the Carbon Capture Program, which supports developing transformational, step-change technologies that are capable of transcending the cost and performance limitations of second-generation systems imposed by designs utilizing conventional equipment and processes. Projects resulting from this FOA will make progress toward meeting the overall fossil energy performance goals of CO₂ capture with 95 percent CO₂ purity at a cost of electricity 30 percent less than baseline capture approaches.

The National Energy Technology Laboratory will manage the projects; project descriptions follow:

Area of Interest 1: Lab-Scale CO₂ Capture Development and Testing on Simulated Syngas

High-Temperature Ceramic-Carbonate Dual-Phase Membrane Reactor for Pre-Combustion Carbon Dioxide Capture – AZ Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ) aims to develop a new membrane reactor technology to produce a high-concentration hydrogen (H2) stream with CO₂capture. Results obtained in this project may enable the development of a bench-scale membrane reactor process that will lower costs for pre-combustion CO₂ capture.

DOE Funding: $800,000; Non-DOE Funding: $200,007; Total Value: $1,000,007

Transformational Membranes for Pre-Combustion Carbon Capture – The Ohio State University(Columbus, OH) plans to synthesize a transformational membrane material and develop a cost-effective design and fabrication process for the novel membrane technology to capture CO₂ from coal-derived syngas. A high-level techno-economic analysis will be conducted with the membrane data obtained.

DOE Funding: $799,988; Non-DOE Funding: $199,998; Total Value: $999,986

Development of Carbon Molecular Sieves Hollow Fiber Membranes Based on Polybenzimidazole Doped with Polyprotic Acids with Superior H2/CO₂ Separation Properties – The Research Foundation for SUNY on behalf of University at Buffalo (Buffalo, NY) intends to develop a highly efficient membrane-based process to capture CO₂ from coal-derived syngas. Successful completion of this project could significantly advance the state-of-the-art membrane processes for pre-combustion CO₂ capture.

DOE Funding: $799,999; Non-DOE Funding: $202,225; Total Value: $1,002,224

Area of Interest 2: Bench-Scale CO₂ Capture Development and Testing on Actual Syngas

Bench-Scale Development of a Transformative Membrane Process for Pre-Combustion CO₂ Capture –Membrane Technology and Research, Inc. (Newark, CA) aims to scale up a next-generation membrane technology and to validate its transformative potential in a bench-scale membrane module unit that is field tested at the Energy & Environmental Research Center. A successful project outcome could further advance the technology readiness level of this membrane technology.

DOE Funding: $1,999,315; Non-DOE Funding: $499,827; Total Value: $2,499,142

Development and Testing of a High-Temperature PBI Hollow Fiber Membrane Technology for Pre-Combustion CO₂ Capture – SRI International (Menlo Park, CA) intends to further develop their membrane-based, transformational CO₂ capture technology at bench scale for coal gasification facilities. The project will advance the cost-effective technology for removing CO₂ from syngas streams of oxygen-fired coal gasifiers to the next development stage of small pilot-scale demonstrations.

DOE Funding: $1,999,981; Non-DOE Funding: $502,400; Total Value: $2,502,381

The Office of Fossil Energy funds research and development projects to reduce the risk and cost of advanced fossil energy technologies and further the sustainable use of the Nation’s fossil resources. To learn more about the programs within the Office of Fossil Energy, visit the Office of Fossil Energy website or sign up for FE news announcements. More information about the National Energy Technology Laboratory is available on the NETL website.

Contact:

• Shelley Martin, DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory, 304-285-0228, contact.publicaffairs@netl.doe.gov