Journal
JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE
Volume 632, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.memsci.2021.119361
Keywords
Membrane; Separation; Hydrogen sulfide; Carbon dioxide
Categories
Funding
- Chevron Energy Technology Company [1906BXE]
- DOE BES grant [DE-FG02-04ER15510]
- Roberto C. Goizueta Chair fund
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Raw natural gas contains impurities like H2S and CO2 which can be corrosive, but TEGMC hollow fiber membranes show efficient removal. The presence of hydrocarbons in the feed gas enhances selectivity, and competitive sorption could be a useful tool in tuning membrane performance.
Raw natural gas contains a significant range of impurities, i.e. H2S, CO2, C2, C3, C6+ etc. The acidic H2S and CO2 are especially highly corrosive to processing and transporting equipment and cause serious environmental issues. In the current study, we investigated H2S and CO2 removal efficiency of TEGMC (TriEthylene Glycol Monoesterified Crosslinked) hollow fiber membranes under realistic natural gas sweetening conditions. The membranes had been stored under ambient condition over seven years but still show good gas separation performance without any particular regeneration treatments. Unexpectedly, the presence of various hydrocarbons, i.e. C2, C3, and toluene, in the feed gas enhances both H2S/CH4 and CO2/CH4 selectivity. Indeed, the condensable hydrocarbons suppress the CH4 permeation through competitive sorption with less effect on the permeation of H2S and CO2. Such a phenomenon is unique in membrane separations, suggesting that penetrant competition can be a useful tool rather than a problem to tune the membrane performance in some cases.
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