Analysis of the effects of combining air separation with combustion in a zero emissions (ZEITMOP) cycle

The ZEITMOP cycle is a zero emissions (oxyfuel) power plant cycle proposed by Evgeny Yantovski that uses oxygen ion transport membranes to extract the oxygen required for combustion from air. A current proposed configuration of the cycle requires an oxygen ion transport membrane air separation unit operating at 920 °C and a separate combustion chamber operating at 1400 °C. If oxygen is consumed by a chemical reaction on the permeate side of an oxygen transport membrane, the oxygen flux is larger, so the air separation unit can be physically smaller. In addition, if this reaction is exothermic, the air separation unit is heated by the reaction, requiring no additional heating. Combustion fulfils both of these requirements, so combustion in the oxygen transport membrane air separation unit would allow a smaller air separation unit, which would also act as a combustion chamber. Unfortunately, a combustion temperature of 1400 °C will damage most oxygen transport membranes available today. However, new materials are continually being developed and investigated, so it may be possible to have an oxygen transport membrane chamber operating at 1400 °C in the short to medium term future. Alternatively the combustion chamber may be cooled, allowing it to operate at more realistic temperatures for currently available oxygen transport membranes. Controlling the operation temperature of the combined unit requires changing the mass flow rates of various streams of fluid in the cycle. This will have an effect on the work and heat transfers in the cycle. It is possible to calculate the theoretical effects of these changes in temperature. This paper presents an analysis investigating the impact of combining the air separator and the combustion chamber. The efficiency of the cycle was calculated at various operation temperatures for the combined oxygen transport membrane combustion chamber. The results were compared to the efficiency of the current cycle. The changes in cycle layout and possible materials for the chamber are also discussed.