SELECTIVE REMOVAL OF NITROGEN FROM NATURAL GAS BY PRESSURE SWING ADSORPTION

摘要

This invention provides a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process for the separation of nitrogen from a mixture of the same with methane which comprises: a) passing a feed stream comprising said mixture in contact with a nitrogen-selective sorbent in a PSA unit so as to preferentially adsorb nitrogen and produce a methane-rich product stream containing at least 70 mol. % methane and a low pressure purge stream having a higher molar concentration of nitrogen than said mixture; and (b) subsequent to step (a), periodically heating said nitrogen-selective sorbent with the methane-rich product stream to drive off accumulated methane from the sorbent.