Integration of H2-Selective Membrane Reactors in the Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle for CO2 Separation

The integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) offers the opportunity for precombustion CO2 capture. However, recent studies using physical absorption for CO2 separation indicated efficiency penalties only slightly lower than those for postcombustion capture in conventional steam power plants. These efficiency penalties are explained and analyzed. As an alternative, a process using a so-called water-gas shift membrane reactor, which combines hydrogen-selective membranes with water-gas shift reaction, is presented. It is demonstrated that the use of recirculated flue gas from downstream of the heat recovery steam generator as membrane sweep gas results in an overall efficiency loss of only 4.5?%-points (including CO2 compression to 120?bar) in comparison to an IGCC without carbon capture and storage (CCS).