February 18, 2020 – Skyhaven Systems was awarded a contract from the Department of Energy to develop an air separation process using arrays of magnetic microchannels. To make coal gasification more financially attractive, the United States Department of Energy is developing innovative small-scale modular coal gasification units. A summary of benefits includes high thermal efficiency, ease of carbon dioxide capture, reduced non-carbon impurities, and capability to process a variety of feedstocks including cost-effective low-grade coal. In support of optimizing the efficiency of these small-scale modular gasification units, air separation units are proposed to promote combustion and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide or sulfur oxide. As a byproduct of the air separation unit, nitrogen is routed to the gas turbines of the combined cycle for power augmentation and NOx control. Cryogenic-based air separation is currently utilized due to its capabilities of extremely high gas output and high gas purity, however, this approach typically represents 12-15 percent of the total capital cost of a plant and requires a significant amount of auxiliary power for operation. Lower cost and lower energy consumption air separation processes are desired for these modular plants. Skyhaven Systems, LLC is presently developing an air separation unit based on magnetic separation of oxygen through porous microchannel arrays where these porous microchannels are being formed using Skyhaven’s additive manufacturing technology.