Low-Cost Oxygen Production Process

Thermosolv staff have been working in developing a standalone oxygen production technology for use in various energy systems and processes. The new technology is planned to produce oxygen with at least 95% purity for use in small-scale (500 kW to 5 MW) modular power plants at significantly lower cost than commercial state-of-the-art oxygen production technology. This, in turn, will help reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of producing synthesis gas which can be converted into clean electricity, fertilizer, chemicals, or liquid fuel for internal combustion engines.

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Thermosolv's low-cost oxygen (LCO) process is a novel oxygen production technology based on sorbent adsorption/desorption. This innovation in air separation will significantly reduce the cost of oxygen in moderately-sized applications. The LCO process is also flexible. Utilizing carbondioxide-rich flue gas as sweep gas will allow the optimization of oxygen level in combustion process; if high purity oxygen is desired, steam or vacuum sweep can be used instead.

New sorbents for oxygen separation and process details controls are being developed using a bench scale LCO facility. A 1 ton/day LCO pilot plant is currently being constructed in Laramie for further demonstration of the capability and economic viability of this process.

This research and development project is funded by the following Department of Energy awards:

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• Sorbent-based Oxygen Production for Energy Systems
  Federal Grant DE-FE0024075
   

• Low-Cost Oxygen (LCO) for Small-Scale Modular Gasification Systems
  Federal Grant DE-FE0028002
   

• Radically Engineered Modular Air Separation System using Tailored Oxygen Sorbents
  Federal Grant DE-FE0031521
   

• Advanced Sorbents for Modular Oxygen Production for REMS Gasifier
  Federal Grant DE-FE0031528

Examples of commercial applications of LCO technology are:​

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• Small-scale modular gasification

• Small-scale steam methane reforming

• Enhanced combustion

• Advanced power generation cycles (Allam cycle)

• Steel production

• Pulp and paper (bleaching/delignification)

• Waste water treatment

• Oxy-combustion

• Chemicals and plastics production

• Electronics production

• Medical

Contact Information

For further information, contact us at:

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Thermosolv, LLC

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3474 N 3rd St

Laramie, WY 82072

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(307) 721-2354