Simulation of a new hybrid membrane/pressure swing adsorption process for gas separation

摘要

A new hybrid gas separation process combining membrane permeation and pressure swing adsorption (PSA) is presented. An integrated model was formulated which successfully predicts all process characteristics. Our modeling work shows that the coupled process increases the efficiency of the pressurization and high-pressure adsorption steps, thereby improving the separation performance as compared to a standalone PSA. The new process has been applied successfully to the bulk separation of a mixture of 50/50 H_2/CH_4 and preliminary results have been obtained for CO_2/CH_4 and H_2/CO_2/CH_4 mixtures.