Separation and recovery of carbon dioxide by a membrane flash process

A novel process for carbon dioxide (CO2) separation, which was named a membrane flash process, was developed to realize an energy-saving technology and to substitute it for a conventional regenerator. The electric energy for CO2 recovery in a membrane flash process using aluminum oxide and diethanolamine was lower than the thermal energy of the conventional chemical absorption process. Flashing at elevated temperature by the low temperature energy significantly reduced the electric energy and required much less membrane area. This process has potentiality of low cost capture of CO2 when the low temperature energy, which is not available for other purposes, can be utilized to elevate flashing temperature.