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STATEMENT OF WORK

Project Title:

Development of a Pilot Scale Module for Hydrogen Separation

Contractor:

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
17 Columbia Circle
Albany, NY 12203-6399
(518) 862-1090 ext 3317

Program Area:

Fuels and Chemical Services

Partners:

North Carolina State Energy Office
Research Triangle Institute
Pall Corporation

Project Description:

The objective of the NYSERDA project will be to advance Research Triangle Institute's hydrogen separation membrane technology to a pilot scale unit.  The proposed effort will optimize membrane synthesis parameters to reduce the cost of membranes while meeting the hydrogen flux and selectivity targets as well as make them robust, long-term durable, and tolerant to impurities including sulfur species typically present in synthesis gas derived from a variety of feedstocks, e.g. natural gas, coal and biomass feedstocks.

Management Plan

The unique nature of STAC requires that projects be supported by multiple State entities, and to the extent necessary any other entity. As indicated in the STAC Agreement, it is the Contractor’s responsibility to coordinate the execution of work under the Contract, incorporated by reference hereto. Contractor, in conjunction with the other State entities, and to the extent necessary any other entity, shall conduct the project in accordance with the Management Plan –  described below.

Administration

As principal contractor, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), will handle the majority of the management of this project.  NYSERDA will execute the contract with STAC as well as any and all subcontracts necessary to complete the project.

For the duration of the project, Bill Reinhardt will serve as the point of contact for technical and procedural questions.  Mr. Reinhardt will be responsible for ensuring that all contractors perform their tasks as promised and at the proposed budget.  Mr. Reinhardt will also be responsible for completing all project reports including the final report.

Administration of contracts and billing will be completed by NYSERDA staff members.  David J. Prior, Assistant Council, will oversee contracts and legal issues related to the contract.  Karen J. Auricchio, will manage purchasing, billings, and accounting.  Karen J. Auricchio will also be responsible for verifying that cost share and matching funds are obtained appropriately and reported under the contract.

Task 1: Bench Scale Testing of Single 9-inch Long Tubes

The objective of Task 1 is to develop single 9-10" tubular membrane elements of optimum palladium alloy/substrate composite membrane configuration and composition to be able to meet or exceed the membrane performance and cost targets.  The objective will be achieved in three subtasks: 1) identify the minimum membrane thickness possible to maximize flux rate and cost effectiveness without compromising membrane stability and selectivity, 2) identify the appropriate membrane alloy composition with or without platinum protective coating to provide adequate resistance to contaminants, especially H₂S, and 3) conduct long-term durability testing to finalize membrane specifications.  This task is scheduled to last the first 10 months of the contract.

Task 2: Scale-up of Tubes to Longer Lengths (3 feet/1 m)

This task will focus on scale-up of the plating technology to commercial size tubular elements of 3 feet in length.  The membrane synthesis and permeation test equipment will be modified to accommodate the longer tubular elements.  The goal of Task 2 is to develop to be able to synthesize, reproducibly, long tubular Pd-alloy composite membrane elements of desired specifications.  Following Task 1, this task is scheduled to run 8 months (Months 11-18 of the project).

Task 3: Membrane Module Preparation and Testing

The optimized membrane synthesis parameters and specifications will be used to prepare a pilot-scale membrane module capable of producing and separating at least a target 7 kg/day of hydrogen (~54 std. liters/min).  A 3-tube, 3-feet long pilot-scale module development is envisioned that is expected to provide more than adequate membrane area with Pd-alloy composite membranes meeting DOE's flux target.  The outcome of this task will be a functional pilot scale hydrogen separation module.  Following Task 2, this task is scheduled to run 6 months (Months 19-24 of the project).

Task 4: Technical and Economic Evaluation and Commercialization

All steps of the membrane formation process will be reviewed for technical and economic feasibility.  This assessment is to be conducted throughout the duration of the program and will be led by Pall Corporation. The "cost" to the end user for a membrane module will be based on the amount of Palladium and precious metals used along with the substrate, sealing hardware and pressure vessel.  Cost for a scaled up membrane manufacturing process will be taken into consideration.  These estimated costs will be periodically revised as membrane performance data becomes available in Tasks 2 and 3.

Process design for a small-scale, distributed reforming hydrogen, production facility will be based on the performance data from pilot testing.  Process conditions such as temperature and pressure will be proposed.  These conditions along with the membrane performance established during Task 3 will be used to design a membrane gas separation system.  A technical and economic analysis will be done to determine the capital and operational cost of the system including the parasitic power loss due to compression.

The capital and operating cost of this membrane based system will be compared to established costs for a pressure swing absorption (PSA) unit (e.g. Myers, et al., 2002) to provide inputs to go/no go decision points.  This comparison will determine the feasible scenarios and the range of applications for the proposed technology.  Potential deployment strategies for centralized and distributed Hydrogen production will be presented.

Task 5: Publish and Promote Results

Program results will be disseminated through appropriate industry conferences.  The targeted conferences for presentation are:

1. National Hydrogen Association's (NHA) Annual Hydrogen Conference,
2. North American Membrane Society's (NAMS) annual meeting,
3. International Conference on Inorganic Membranes (ICIM) bi-annual meeting, and
4. Fuel Cell Seminar's annual conference.

Appropriate steps will be taken for patent application for any patentable results generated during the course of the project.  Publication of project results in peer-reviewed journals will also be considered.

Project Tasks, Status, and Deliverables

Last Updated: 10/24/06