ECCSTAZE
Publieke samenvatting / Public summary
Aanleiding
The EU and the Netherlands want to operate fully sustainable and CO2 neutral by 2050. Amine-based CO2 absorption technology is well established but usually designed to capture only 90-95% of the CO2, while operating at high energy requirements in the range of 2.4 to 4.2 GJ/tCO2. Moreover, CO2 is produced at low pressure (1.6 to 1.8 bar), requiring expensive compression for transportation and reuse or storage. To reach 99+% capture, costs increase exponentially. Therefore, achieving zero or even negative emissions with conventional amine technologies is not cost-effective. In this project, ECCSTAZE, we will develop a circular, sustainable and green CO2 capture process that only uses electricity as energy input, and an aqueous hydroxide solution, in situ produced in a membrane, as solvent. As only product, clean CO2 at higher pressure (10 bar) is obtained that can be directly used for CO2 storage and utilization. Deep CO2 removal and a final CO2 concentration in the flue gas stream lower than 50 ppmv can be achieved, which for post combustion capture implies a capture rate above 99.9% – greatly minimizing residual (non-captured) CO2 emissions.
Doelstelling
ECCSTAZE will develop a green, fully sustainable innovative electro-membrane (EM) based CO2 capture process: CO2 is captured in a hydroxide solution forming carbonates. Next a novel regeneration step is performed combining neutralization and an EM process: first, the CO2-loaded carbonate solution is neutralized with a green organic acid obtained from bio-fermentation, releasing the CO2 at higher pressure, avoiding expensive compression steps. Next, the remaining, CO2-free salt solution is sent to an EM process regenerating the hydroxide and the acid such that both can be recycled and reused in the next CO2-absorption cycle. The bipolar, anion and cation exchange membrane used in the EM process and used for the proof of concept are commercially available membranes not designed and not at all optimized for this process. Also, their production requires petroleum-derived organic solvents restricted by the EU (REACH legislation). The focus thus is on development of membranes using fully sustainable water-based layer-by-layer membrane modification and electrospinning with green solvents and their performance evaluation in a bench scale absorption-regeneration process.
Korte omschrijving
The project consists of four work packages. A bipolar, anion and cation exchange membrane are developed and produced using fully sustainable water-based layer-by-layer membrane modification and electrospinning with green solvents. Developed membranes will be characterized and subsequently built in the EM stack to test their performance with model and real solutions. During the experiments, not only the membrane composition and EM module configuration will be studied, but also the optimal hydroxide and organic acid concentrations will be identified as well as membrane fouling and control. Ultimately, the developed tailored EM stack will be integrated in a bench scale setup to evaluate the total process performance. The project will also include an LCA and cost estimation of the EM device and process. Furthermore, a business case will be developed for application in the flue gas stream of a waste-to-energy plant and compared to amine-based absorption. This will include process modelling for scale-up, detailed engineering of the CO2 capture process, a technical economic analysis and cost calculation. Finally, a market survey will be performed.
Resultaat
ECCSTAZE develops a technology allowing a wide range of industries to become carbon neutral or even carbon negative, leading to significant reduction in cost to achieve Dutch (and EU) carbon neutrality goals. More specifically, ECCSTAZE will develop a green, fully sustainable innovative EM regeneration device at cost-effective operation to be integrated in the circular CO2 capture process. To reach that, the focus is on the development and production of a bipolar, an anion and a cation exchange membrane including performance evaluation in a bench scale absorption-regeneration process. Finally a large scale process will be designed and a techno-economic evaluation, an LCA, business case and market study will be performed. In 2022, the industry and power sector in The Netherlands emitted 79.1 MtCO2-eq. With amine-based technology, still 7.9 MtCO2 (10%) not captured CO2 would be released to the air each year and carbon neutrality is not obtained. With current prices this represent of €1.6-4.7 billion. Oppositely, ECCSTAZE's technology is designed for deep removal: the process will capture 99.9+%, so the energy requirements will be significantly lower targeting 35-45 €/tCO2 only.
The EU and the Netherlands want to operate fully sustainable and CO2 neutral by 2050. Amine-based CO2 absorption technology is well established but usually designed to capture only 90-95% of the CO2, while operating at high energy requirements in the range of 2.4 to 4.2 GJ/tCO2. Moreover, CO2 is produced at low pressure (1.6 to 1.8 bar), requiring expensive compression for transportation and reuse or storage. To reach 99+% capture, costs increase exponentially. Therefore, achieving zero or even negative emissions with conventional amine technologies is not cost-effective. In this project, ECCSTAZE, we will develop a circular, sustainable and green CO2 capture process that only uses electricity as energy input, and an aqueous hydroxide solution, in situ produced in a membrane, as solvent. As only product, clean CO2 at higher pressure (10 bar) is obtained that can be directly used for CO2 storage and utilization. Deep CO2 removal and a final CO2 concentration in the flue gas stream lower than 50 ppmv can be achieved, which for post combustion capture implies a capture rate above 99.9% – greatly minimizing residual (non-captured) CO2 emissions.
Doelstelling
ECCSTAZE will develop a green, fully sustainable innovative electro-membrane (EM) based CO2 capture process: CO2 is captured in a hydroxide solution forming carbonates. Next a novel regeneration step is performed combining neutralization and an EM process: first, the CO2-loaded carbonate solution is neutralized with a green organic acid obtained from bio-fermentation, releasing the CO2 at higher pressure, avoiding expensive compression steps. Next, the remaining, CO2-free salt solution is sent to an EM process regenerating the hydroxide and the acid such that both can be recycled and reused in the next CO2-absorption cycle. The bipolar, anion and cation exchange membrane used in the EM process and used for the proof of concept are commercially available membranes not designed and not at all optimized for this process. Also, their production requires petroleum-derived organic solvents restricted by the EU (REACH legislation). The focus thus is on development of membranes using fully sustainable water-based layer-by-layer membrane modification and electrospinning with green solvents and their performance evaluation in a bench scale absorption-regeneration process.
Korte omschrijving
The project consists of four work packages. A bipolar, anion and cation exchange membrane are developed and produced using fully sustainable water-based layer-by-layer membrane modification and electrospinning with green solvents. Developed membranes will be characterized and subsequently built in the EM stack to test their performance with model and real solutions. During the experiments, not only the membrane composition and EM module configuration will be studied, but also the optimal hydroxide and organic acid concentrations will be identified as well as membrane fouling and control. Ultimately, the developed tailored EM stack will be integrated in a bench scale setup to evaluate the total process performance. The project will also include an LCA and cost estimation of the EM device and process. Furthermore, a business case will be developed for application in the flue gas stream of a waste-to-energy plant and compared to amine-based absorption. This will include process modelling for scale-up, detailed engineering of the CO2 capture process, a technical economic analysis and cost calculation. Finally, a market survey will be performed.
Resultaat
ECCSTAZE develops a technology allowing a wide range of industries to become carbon neutral or even carbon negative, leading to significant reduction in cost to achieve Dutch (and EU) carbon neutrality goals. More specifically, ECCSTAZE will develop a green, fully sustainable innovative EM regeneration device at cost-effective operation to be integrated in the circular CO2 capture process. To reach that, the focus is on the development and production of a bipolar, an anion and a cation exchange membrane including performance evaluation in a bench scale absorption-regeneration process. Finally a large scale process will be designed and a techno-economic evaluation, an LCA, business case and market study will be performed. In 2022, the industry and power sector in The Netherlands emitted 79.1 MtCO2-eq. With amine-based technology, still 7.9 MtCO2 (10%) not captured CO2 would be released to the air each year and carbon neutrality is not obtained. With current prices this represent of €1.6-4.7 billion. Oppositely, ECCSTAZE's technology is designed for deep removal: the process will capture 99.9+%, so the energy requirements will be significantly lower targeting 35-45 €/tCO2 only.