Oxygen Transport Membranes: A material science and process engineering approach

The general consensus exists that the earth is experiencing rapid climate changes, which may cause a redistribution of the global climates. Although it is unknown whether this is beneficial or disastrous for human beings, it will undoubtedly affect human civilization. For example, global warming may cause ice melting in Antarctica and Greenland, which leads to a rise of the sea level and eventually some low altitude cities and countries may disappear. Although there is no universal agreement about the cause of global warming, many climate scientists assume that the anthropogenic emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere is one of the main reasons. In order to reduce CO2 emissions, it is recommended to apply CO2 capture and storage (CCS) techniques at large CO2 point sources. An example of such a source are the fossil fuel-fired power plants, which account for some 30 % of the worldwide CO2 emissions. A way of CCS is to compress (100 bar - 150 bar) and transport CO2 to a storage site, where it is deposited into an underground geological formation for permanent storage.