Chemical Engineering August 2022 - 5

Chementator
Hybrid membrane separates CO2 with both high
permeability and selectivity
C
onventional gas-separation
membranes normally exhibit
a trade-off between
selectivity and permeability
- a practical limitation referred to
as the Robeson upper bound. As a
result, membranes designed to selectively
remove relatively low concentrations
of carbon dioxide from
natural gas or fluegas are inherently
hampered by a low CO2 flux through
the membrane.
To overcome this constraint, reSintef
Different
Types of Carbon-Capture
Polymer Membranes
Self-standing
Edited by:
Gerald Ondrey
BIOMETHANE
Supported
searchers from Sintef (Trondheim,
Norway; www.sintef.no), in collaboration
with professor Richard Spontak
at North Carolina State University
(Raleigh; www.ncsu.edu) and professor
Liyuan Deng at the Norwegian University
of Science and Technology (Trondheim;
www.ntou.no), have developed
membranes that integrate an ultrathin,
highly CO2-selective surface layer with a
highly permeable, but low selectivity, polymer
membrane in a concept referred to as
hybrid-integrated (HI) membrane technology
(diagram). As described in a recent article
in Science, the surface layer consists
of surface-grown polyamines that concentrate
CO2 from the target gas stream. The
CO2 is quickly transported through the
dense polymer membrane and the underlying
macroporous support. " The resulting
membranes retain high CO2 permeability
with CO2 selectivities increased by more
than 150-fold over the parent membranes, "
says Marius Sandru, Sintef researcher and
Integrated
(not drawn to scale)
lead author of the study.
In laboratory-scale tests, performed using
membranes with ~20 cm2 area and gas
flowrates of ~30 L/h (fully humidified 10/90
CO2/N2 feed typical of fluegas), CO2 permeabilities
and CO2/N2 selectivities of up
to ~1,000 Barrer and ~1,000, respectively,
have been measured. The membranes
have also been studied using mixtures of
CH4 and CO2 (typical of biogas plants),
achieving selectivities of up to ~500.
" The next stage is the stepwise upscaling
of membrane area, " says Sandru.
Membranes with 500-cm2 area will be fabricated
in the ongoing CO2-Hybrid project
and tested using real fluegas in static tests,
followed by field testing in a coal-/natural
gas-fired Waste2Energy pilot facility. The
goal is to achieve a 90% CO2 capture efficiency
with 95% CO2 purity.
Biodegradable corn-based adhesive is
non-toxic, with tunable properties
A
new class of adhesives being developed
by the startup gluECO Adhesives
LLC (Ashburnham, Mass.;
www.glueco-adhesives.com) is
based on corn proteins and has a host of
environmentally friendly properties, such as
biodegradability and the ability to be easily
removed in paper repulping processes.
The patent-pending technology behind the
adhesives was invented in the laboratory
of Jon Wilker, a professor and researcher
at Purdue University (West Lafayette, Ind.;
www.purdue.edu). It has been licensed for
commercial development by gluECO.
The adhesives are based on zein, a protein
extracted from a byproduct of corn
milling. The zein-based adhesives are
non-toxic, biodegradable, and have been
certified as GRAS (generally recognized as
safe) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Also, the company says the zein
adhesives can easily be separated from the
slurry of recycled paper that is intended for
the production of new paper.
The properties of the adhesives are tunable,
which means the end products can
be adjusted for
strength,
flexibility and
performance in extreme temperature, as
well as moisture and high-vibration conditions,
gluECO says. As further advantages,
gluECO points out that the adhesives have
antimicrobial properties and can be produced
with a smaller carbon footprint than
petroleum-derived alternatives.
The company is planning to launch the
adhesives in the fourth quarter of 2022.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
AUGUST 2022
Last month, NextChem, a
subsidiary of Maire Tecnimont
S.p.A. (Rome, Italy;
www.mairetecnimont.com)
was awarded a contract by
ENGIE subsidiary Storengy
(Bois-Colombes Cedex,
France; www.storengy.com)
to perform an advanced
basic-engineering study
for a plant that will produce
second-generation biomethane
from the pyrogasification
of waste wood. Once
the project has reached the
final investment decision
targeted by the end of 2022
and is granted the related
permitting, NextChem, in association
with another Maire
Tecnimont Group subsidiary,
will act as an engineering,
procurement and construction
(EPC) contractor for the
methanation package of the
project, which is set to be
implemented in Le Havre,
France as part of the Salamander
project. The plant
will produce 11,000 ton/yr of
equivalent biomethane.
NextChem will be responsible
for the engineering and
cost estimating for the synthesis
gas (syngas) purification,
methanation unit and
methane upgrading of the
plant. Comessa (Strasbourg,
France; www.comessa.
com) will be responsible for
the design and supply of
the chemical reactor. The
technology to be used in the
plant has already been successfully
applied to the Gaya
pilot plant near Lyon, owned
by ENGIE, which validated
the feasibility to produce biomethane.
This will be the first
commercial project in the
world of its kind to inject into
the grid methane produced
through pyrogasification of
waste wood.
P-RECOVERY
Kemira Oyj (Helsinki, Finland;
www.kemira.com) and
Veolia Wasser Deutschland
GmbH (Leipzig, Germany;
www.veolia.de) recently an(Continues
on p. 6)
5
http://www.mairetecnimont.com http://www.storengy.com http://www.sintef.no http://www.ncsu.edu https://www.ntnu.edu/ http://www.comessa.com http://www.comessa.com http://www.glueco-adhesives.com http://www.purdue.edu http://www.kemira.com http://www.veolia.de http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
Chemical Engineering August 2022

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