Integration of ion transport membrane with conventional powerplant to enhance the plant capacity with improved power production

Ion Transport Membrane (ITM) is an emerging technology for producing O(2) by separating air in its membrane. To decrease energy loss in air separation unit and to increase the overall efficiency of a power generation unit ITM is added with the gasification unit in this model. Ceramic materials are generally used to make the ion transport membrane that produces oxygen by conducting oxygen ions at a specified temperature. Potential advantages can be gained by integrating ITM technology with power generation units as 99% pure oxygen is produced from ITM. Using ITM air separator is more beneficial compared to cryogenic air separation as ITM technology helps to improve IGCC overall efficiency and also reduces plant auxiliaries than that of power generation systems integrated with cryogenic. This paper proposed a novel and effective integration of ITM, gas turbine, HRSG system, gas clean up system and gasification unit to produce sustainable energy. Environmental impacts are considered to design this integrated power generation unit. The proposed model achieved a high gross electric efficiency of 47.58% and high net power of 296730 kW which revealed its potentiality compared to available cryogenic ASU-based combine cycle power plants.