CO2 and water vapor removal from natural gas or associated gas to meet pipeline specifications for onshore or offshore locations. Hydrogen and helium purification and upgrading low GHV gas for fuel. Debottlenecking existing solvent scrubbing systems or providing bulk CO2 removal upstream of new installations. Hydrocarbon recovery from enhanced oil recovery floods for CO2 reinjection and landfill gas purification.
Products: Purified gas meeting pipeline specifications, high-quality fuel gas for turbine, reformer, or power generation or high-purity CO2 gas for reinjection.
Separex membrane systems are simple, dry systems requiring minimal moving parts. Feed gas, after liquids separation, is conditioned at the pretreatment before being processed in a one- or two-stage membrane system. As the CO2-rich feed gas mixture passes over the polymeric membrane at high pressure, it separates into two streams. Carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and water vapor permeate readily through the membrane collecting on the lowpressure permeate side. The high-pressure residual retains most of the methane, ethane, other hydrocarbons and nitrogen. In a two-stage system, the first stage low-pressure permeate is compressed for further treatment at the second-stage membranes to recover hydrocarbons.
Hydrocarbon recovery can be as high as 99% for a two-stage design, and 95% for a single stage without compression, depending upon feed composition, pressure levels, system configuration and product requirements. Feedrates vary from 1 million scfd to 1,000 million scfd, with CO2 levels from 3% to 70% and feed pressures from 400 to 1,400 psig.
Designed for operational simplicity, Separex membrane systems are an excellent choice for offshore and remote locations. They require minimal rotating equipment, no chemical reagent replacement and minimal maintenance. The prefabricated units are skid mounted to minimize installation costs and plot space.
Separex membrane systems offer two membrane module configurations, spiral wound and hollow fiber, to satisfy the varied CO2 removal requirements.
Economics: For natural gas upgrading to pipeline specification, the processing costs are lower than, or comparable to, an amine unit. However, the Separex membrane system eliminates the need for the glycol dehydration unit found in typical treating plants. The economics of smaller installations or remote operations favor membrane systems over traditional treatment options. CO2-removal costs range between $0.05 to $0.15 per 1,000 scf of feed gas, depending on removal requirements, feed pressure, system configuration and product specifications.
Licensor: UOP LLC
