Long-term experiment for the separation of “green” hydrogen from biomass gasification by a polymer membrane

  • Posted on: 11 June 2018
  • By: mmiltner
TitleLong-term experiment for the separation of “green” hydrogen from biomass gasification by a polymer membrane
Publication TypeConference Proceedings
Year of Conference2015
AuthorsKonlechner D, Harasek M, Hofbauer H, Hackel M, Sanders E, Bosch K
Conference NameFILTECH Conference 2015, Cologne, Germany
KeywordsBiomass gasification, Gas permeation, Hollow Fiber Membrane, Hydrogen, Membrane separation, Polymeric Membrane
Abstract

Hydrogen is seen as an important part of a lasting energy mix for the future. The Institute of Chemical Engineering at the Vienna University of Technology is operating an experimental setup for the separation of sustainable hydrogen from product gas of an industrial biomass gasification plant located at Oberwart, Austria. The overall concept follows the polygeneration concept which has the aim to produce valuable products on an economic basis and to utilize remaining by-products, for example in a gas engine. With the installed experimental process chain hydrogen is upgraded to fuel cell quality. The current paper has its focus on the membrane separation step which is a key step within the implemented process chain. The overall goal of the research work is to develop the basics for a simple industrially feasible CO2 neutral hydrogen production process using biomass as raw material.

Gas permeation is a state of art technology which shows its performance in various applicable fields. The novel approach is now its application for the hydrogen separation from renewable resources. At the current case, product gas from an industrial biomass gasification plant is taken for the experiments. Within the executed work, the long-term reliability of the process and the used membrane material is evaluated. Therefore, the pressure of the pretreated gas is increased to 13 barg by a piston compressor. By using a single-stage polymer membrane module provided by Air Liquide it is possible to increase the hydrogen concentration from 35-40 %(v/v) up to 80 %(v/v). The experimental setup is operated at stable process conditions for
about 20 days without interruption. Within that period no decrease of the performance is seen.