PSA SEPARATION OF NITROGEN FROM NATURAL GAS.

摘要

Disclosed is a new PSA cycle that treats N2-contaminated natural gas at relatively high pressure, and yields a first product enriched in less strongly adsorbed components such as, for example, N2, and others (e.g., helium=He), and a second product that is enriched in more-strongly adsorbed components including, for example, CH4 and others (e.g., ethane=C2H6). The new PSA cycle is characterized by: low power consumption and low adsorbent mass, and therefore relatively small adsorbers. Briefly, a five-adsorber, PSA process separates a gas mixture into a first gas product, which is enriched in a first less-strongly adsorbed component, and a second gas product, which is enriched in more-strongly adsorbed components. The second gas product may be obtained by combining effluents obtained from a series of discrete steps.