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The Gas Technology Institute (GTI), with support from the University of South Carolina, will develop a proof of concept of an innovative oxygen production technology using a hollow fiber membrane contactor (HFMC) with an oxygen carrier solution as the solvent and air as feed to produce greater than 95 percent purity oxygen. This involves screening of suitable oxygen carriers that are stable and compatible with HFMC materials and possess high oxygen separation rates and capacities, and the identification of ideal HFMC configurations that offer high mass-transfer coefficients (related to oxygen production rate) and operational stability. A techno-economic analysis will be the final task. The Illinois Clean Coal Institute will be providing third-party cost share.
The goal of GTI’s HFMC technology development is to achieve an oxygen production rate with a mass-transfer coefficient greater than 1.0/second and oxygen purity greater than 95 percent that is capable of being used in oxygen-intensive industries at a cost that is substantially below the current benchmarks for commercially available, stand-alone air separation units. Preliminary cost assessment indicates that the expected cost including capital, operating, and energy use for the proposed oxygen separation technology is $19.94/ton. This is substantially below the cost for cryogenic distillation ($35.80/ton). The HFMC technology has the potential to produce oxygen with a purity as high as 99.9 percent for applications in integrated gasification combined cycle, oxy-combustion, and other advanced power generation technologies. It should offer tremendous opportunities to improve the efficiency and cost of air separation, and thus of oxygen-intensive industries in general.
