NON-CRYOGENIC TECHNOLOGY OF PRODUCTION OF HELIUM CONCENTRATE FROM NATURAL GAS

摘要

A non-cryogenic technology has been developed for the extraction of helium from natural gas in a membrane installation operating in an unsteady mode. The separating membrane in this setup consists of microcapsules - cenospheres. The microscopic dimensions of the walls of such capsules provide a high diffusion rate of helium, unattainable in installations with a stationary mode of operation. A wave technique for calculating membrane installations with an unsteady mode of operation has been developed. The calculation is carried out by expanding the input concentration signal in a Fourier series according to the eigenfrequencies of this periodic process. Moreover, each of its concentration eigenwaves, independently of the others, passes through a layer of microcapsules. At the output, all solutions for individual eigenwaves are added up. Using a specific example of the extraction of helium from natural gas, the capabilities of the new technology are demonstrated. It is shown that the transmission of natural gas through an installation with three apparatuses 10 m long filled with cenospheres makes it possible to achieve a helium recovery coefficient of 33%.