Synthesis and evaluation of a nanocomposite hydroxy sodalite/ceramic (HS/ceramic) membrane for pre-combustion CO2 capture: Characterization and permeation test during CO2/H2 separation

Abstract

Greenhouse gases (GHGs), secondary products from combustion of fossil fuel, have been instrumental to global warming which causes climate change. However, carbon capture, storage and utilization (CCSU) is one of the promising ways to reducing CO2 emission from large point sources via pre-combustion CO2 capture. Membrane technology has been identified as one of the promising technologies for pre-combustion CO2 capture, but availability of membranes with high membrane integrity (high CO2 flux, high selectivity, good chemical and thermal stability) is a major challenge in advancing this technology. Against this background, synthesis and gas permeation of a nanocomposite hydroxy sodalite/ceramic (HS/α-Al2O3) membrane, prepared via pore-plugging hydrothermal synthesis technique (PPH), are hereby reported. Morphology, purity of the sodalite particles (obtained from the bottom of the autoclave) and quality of the as-prepared membrane were checked using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and Basic Desorption Quality Test (BDQT) (for the membrane). Single gas permeation experiments were carried out on the membrane at 298 K via Wicke-Kallenbach method (W-K) using pure component CO2 and H2 to gain insight into separation performance of the membrane. The single gas permeation results reveal H2 permeance and CO2 permeance of 7.37 × 10−8 mol·s−1·m−2·Pa−1 and 1.14 × 10−8 mol·s−1·m−2·Pa−1, respectively, with ideal selectivity of 6.46. In addition, H2 permeation through the membrane was adequately described with the well-known Maxwell-Stefan (M-S) model.