Membranes for H2 Purification and CO2 Capture:From Material Molecular Engineering to Technology Commercialization

Growing evidence indicates that CO₂ emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels are contributing to global climate change.  One approach to controlling CO₂ emissions to the atmosphere is carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (CCUS) from large point sources, such as H₂ and power plants.  Pre‑combustion capture from syngas has been considered as an economically viable route.  In this scheme, gasification of fossil fuels produces syngas, which is further converted to CO₂ and H₂.  The CO₂ is removed and captured prior to H₂ utilization for refinery hydrogenation reactions or combustion in the power plant turbines.

Membrane technology is an attractive approach to H₂ purification and CO₂ capture because of inherent advantages such as high energy efficiency.  This presentation will systematically examine the need of membrane technology as a low‑cost and energy‑efficient separation technology enabling the CCUS via pre‑combustion route.  I will discuss how we rationally design polymeric membrane materials to achieve the combination of high CO₂ permeability and high CO₂/H₂ selectivity.  More specifically, this talk will discuss the molecular engineering of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) containing polymers for improvement in mixed-gas CO₂/H₂ separation performance.  Interestingly, these materials exhibit unconventional increase in mixed‑gas CO₂/H₂ selectivity as CO₂feed partial pressure increases.  This talk will also provide a glimpse of how the molecular understanding in membrane material science can be translated to large scale membrane product to solve practical problems.  Three phases of technology development will be described, laboratory concept proving, small scale field testing, and complete system demonstration.

Biography:    Dr. Haiqing Lin received his B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering in Xiamen University in 1996 and 1996, respectively.  In 2005, he received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from University of Texas, Austin.  His academic work targeted the development of new membrane materials that are suitable for use in industrial gas separations.  Dr. Lin joined Membrane technology and Research, Inc. (MTR) as a Senior Research Scientist and Group Leader of the Gas Separations Group.  He led projects related to natural gas clean-up and carbon dioxide/hydrogen separation membranes, including commercial development of MTR抯 new Polaris?membranes.  He is currently an Assistant Professor at Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at SUNY at Buffalo.  He is the coauthor of 30 publications, and is listed as co-inventor on eight US patents and applications.