Process for recovering hydrogen and hydrocarbons from the effluent stream of a hydrogen-producing hydrocarbon conversion process

摘要

Hydrogen and hydrocarbons are recovered from the gaseous effluent stream (8) of a hydrogen-producing hydrocarbon conversion process. The effluent stream is partially condensed (9) to remove (10) the bulk of the heavy C6-plus hydrocarbons, which are then sent (12,40) to a fractionation zone (2, 43). The remaining vapor (11) is compressed (14) to a substantially higher pressure. The compressed vapor (17) is then passed into a membrane separation zone (20, 23) in which a hydrogen-rich stream (24) is separated from the compressed vapor (25). The relatively high pressure non-permeate portion of the vapor stream (25) which emerges from the membrane separation zone (20) is partially condensed by autorefrigeration (28, 29, 30). The still high pressure mixed phase fluid is separated (19) into vapor (31) and liquid (32) hydrocarbon portions. The liquid phase material (32) is then flashed (38) to produce coolant (35) used to perform the partial condensation (28, 30).