Recent advances on the membrane processes for CO2 separation

Membrane separation technology has popularized rapidly and attracts much interest in gas industry as a promising sort of newly chemical separation unit operation. In this paper, recent advances on membrane processes for CO2 separation are reviewed. The researches indicate that the optimization of operating process designs could improve the separation performance, reduce the energy consumption and decrease the cost of membrane separation systems. With the improvement of membrane materials recently, membrane processes are beginning to be competitive enough for CO2 separation, especially for post-combustion CO2 capture, biogas upgrading and natural gas carbon dioxide removal, compared with the traditional separation methods. We summarize the needs and most promising research directions for membrane processes for CO2 separation in current and future membrane applications. As the time goes by, novel membrane materials developed according to the requirement proposed by process optimization with increased selectivity and/or permeance will accelerate the industrialization of membrane process in the near future. Based on the data collected in a pilot scale test, more effort could be made on the optimization of membrane separation processes. This work would open up a new horizon for CO2 separation/Capture on Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS). (C) 2018 The Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, and Chemical Industry Press. All rights reserved.