NEW MEMBRANE APPLICATIONS IN GAS PROCESSING

摘要

Polymeric membranes have developed into an important separation technology during the past15 years. In the natural gas industry, the principal application of membranes is the separation ofcarbon dioxide from natural gas. The membranes used in this application are made from rigid, glassypolymers. Membrane Technology & Research, Inc. (MTR) has developed and commercialized a newmembrane-based process for the gas industry. The enabling technology of this process is a unique typeof rubbery membrane, which permeates condensable vapors, such as C_3+ hydrocarbons, aromatics, andwater vapor, while rejecting the non-condensable gases, such as methane, ethane, nitrogen andhydrogen. The process was first commercialized in 1990 and during the past 10 years, more than 50systems have been installed in the chemical process industry worldwide. This unique rubberymembrane is now being applied to the separation of C_3+ hydrocarbons from methane in gasprocessing. Test systems able to treat up to 5 MMSCFD of natural gas have been installed at gasprocessing plants. Based on the performance of these units, design calculations for several largercommercial projects have been developed, and the competitive niche of the technology has beendetermined. The main applications are NGL recovery and dew-point control for associated natural gas,and fuel gas conditioning for gas turbines and engines.