ENEFOX – Energy Effecient Oxygen Production for a Sustainable Energy System

Widespread availability of cheap, pure oxygen can contribute to a significant reduction of CO2 emissions both in Denmark and worldwide by increasing the efficiency of biomass conversion and by simplifying routes for capture of CO2 from cement production. Present-day oxygen production relies on cryogenic distillation having a very large energy consumption. A promising alternative, pursued in several places in the world, is ion conducting membranes for gas separation. The present project will further oxygen membrane technology with special focus on the use in biomass gasification and cement production. Biomass is an important but also very limited energy resource. This makes it important to use it as efficiently as possible. Use of pure oxygen produced by oxygen membranes will improve the energy efficiency of power generation from biomass gasification and reduce the costs of CO2 neutral transportation fuels made from biomass. An example is DME, one of the most promising clean fuels for transportation, cooking & heating, and power generation. By replacing LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), DME has an enormous market potential in emerging countries, including China. Cement production is globally one of the largest industrial contributors to emission of greenhouse gases. The use of pure oxygen in cement production allows increased use of biomass and waste in the firing. Further, it will make CO2 capture and sequestration from the flue gas stream cheaper and more energy efficient. This is necessary for deep reduction of industry emissions as half of the CO2 emissions are released directly from the calcination of the raw material. The project brings together leading Danish and Chinese research groups with large expertise in ceramic membranes; from industry Danish cement and gasification companies will participate.