NAMS 2002 Workshop - ICOM 2008

Pervaporation and Vapor Permeation II – 2
Thursday July 17, 3:00 PM-3:30 PM, Moloka’i
Membrane Based Liquid Fuels Desulfurization Process for Point-of-Use
Applications
D. Aagesen (Speaker), Intelligent Energy Inc., Long Beach, California, USA -
diane.aagesen@intelligent-energy.com
D. Swamy, Intelligent Energy Inc., Long Beach, California, USA
In order to address the growing concern over sulfur oxides and particulate matter
emissions that adversely affect the environment and human health, Intelligent
Energy (IE) has recently developed a unique fuel desulfurization technology. The
process uses a polyimide membrane to fractionate fuels in a slip-stream point-ofuse
process. This technology can be applied to pre-treat fuels used by
transportation equipment such as locomotives, large ships and other off-road
equipment. The technology has the potential to significantly reduce pollutants
thus directly improving the quality of life for nearly 25 percent of the world’s
population. Furthermore, the technology can be used for the removal of
dibenzothiophene and heavier refractory sulfur compounds from logistic fuels
when placed upstream of adsorbent beds integrated with fuel cell auxiliary power
units (APU). This leads to increased sorbent capacity and life.
This paper discusses the process configuration, engineering aspects, test data
results from feedstock including Jet A, JP5, marine diesel oil (MDO) and
highlights the commercial drivers and applications for the point-of-use system.
Typical flux rates for the fuels tested ranged between 1-2kg/hr-m 2 with sulfur
reduction between 40-80% when stage-cuts (fraction of feed passed through the
membrane) of 5-20% are obtained. The parasitic power requirement of the
process can vary between 1-3% of the heating value of the cleaned fuel.