Conventional processes and membrane technology for carbon dioxide removal from natural gas:A review

Membrane technology is becoming more important for CO 2 separation from natural gas in the new era due to its process simplicity,relative ease of operation and control,compact,and easy to scale up as compared with conventional processes.Conventional processes such as absorption and adsorption for CO 2 separation from natural gas are generally more energy demanding and costly for both operation and maintenance.Polymeric membranes are the current commercial membranes used for CO 2 separation from natural gas.However,polymeric membranes possess drawbacks such as low permeability and selectivity,plasticization at high temperatures,as well as insufficient thermal and chemical stability.The shortcomings of commercial polymeric membranes have motivated researchers to opt for other alternatives,especially inorganic membranes due to their higher thermal stability,good chemical resistance to solvents,high mechanical strength and long lifetime.Surface modifications can be utilized in inorganic membranes to further enhance the selectivity,permeability or catalytic activities of the membrane.This paper is to provide a comprehensive review on gas separation,comparing membrane technology with other conventional methods of recovering CO 2 from natural gas,challenges of current commercial polymeric membranes and inorganic membranes for CO 2 removal and membrane surface modification for improved selectivity.     

T型及KA分子筛膜的制备、修复及其天然气脱水蒸气性能研究

天然气在长距离输送之前必须进行脱水蒸气,膜分离法是天然气脱水蒸气的有效方法,其中膜材料是关键,而分子筛膜因具有均一的孔径、规则的孔道、良好的稳定性而备受关注。本研究选择孔径为3-5 μm,直径为2 cm的圆片状多孔氧化铝陶瓷作为成膜基底,通过在基底上预涂晶种后原位生长得到了T型和NaA分子筛膜,NaA分子筛膜进一步经过金属离子交换获得了KA分子筛膜,最后将两种分子筛膜应用于水蒸气含量为3.5%的甲烷气体(作为模型天然气)进行天然气脱水蒸气实验。研究结果表明,T型及KA分子筛膜对模型天然气脱水蒸气的H₂O/CH₄选择性分别为2.80和3.16。进而采用表面涂层法对分子筛膜中的缺陷进行了修复,从而有效提高了其模型天然气脱水蒸气性能,修复后的T型及KA分子筛膜的H₂O/CH₄选择性分别达到了10.52和17.71,水蒸气的渗透系数分别为104397 Barrer和28200 Barrer,甲烷损失率分别仅为2%和1%,修复后的两种分子筛膜皆具有良好的稳定性。     

氧载体的氧物种直接氧化甲烷制合成气

甲烷部分氧化制合成气由于合成气中n(H2)/n(CO)接近2,可直接用于甲醇合成或烃类F-T合成等后续工业过程而在国内外受到了广泛的关注。利用氧载体的氧物种在无气相氧下直接选择氧化甲烷制合成气是天然气化工利用的新方法,本文介绍了该方法的基本原理、概念工艺和对氧载体的性能要求,对应用于该方法的铈基复合氧化物的掺杂和助剂对选择氧化甲烷性能的影响、钙钛矿氧化物氧载体的氧缺陷、氧物种迁移、结构稳定性及其氧物种氧化甲烷的性能进行了阐述和分析,提出了控制氧载体表面状态是获得高合成气选择性的关键,并对该技术今后的研究重点进行了展望。     

Tuning methane content in gas hydrates via thermodynamic modeling and molecular dynamics simulation

Storage and transportation of natural gas as gas hydrate (“gas-to-solids technology”) is a promising alternative to the established liquefied natural gas (LNG) or compressed natural gas (CNG) technologies. Gas hydrates offer a relatively high gas storage capacity and mild temperature and pressure conditions for formation. Simulations based on the van der Waals–Platteeuw model and molecular dynamics (MD) are employed in this study to relate the methane gas content/occupancy in different hydrate systems with the hydrate stability conditions including temperature, pressure, and secondary clathrate stabilizing guests. Methane is chosen as a model system for natural gas. It was found that the addition of about 1% propane suffices to increase the structure II (sII) methane hydrate stability without excessively compromising methane storage capacity in hydrate. When tetrahydrofuran (THF) is used as the stabilizing agent in sII hydrate at concentration between 1% and 3%, a reasonably high methane content in hydrate can be maintained (∼85–100, v/v) without dealing with pressures more than 5 MPa and close to room temperature.     

Adsorbent filled membranes for gas separation. Part 1. Improvement of the gas separation properties of polymeric membranes by incorporation of microporous adsorbents

The effect of the introduction of specific adsorbents on the gas separation properties of polymeric membranes has been studied. For this purpose both carbon molecular sieves and zeolites are considered. The results show that zeolites such as silicate-1, 13X and KY improve to a large extent the separation properties of poorly selective rubbery polymers towards a mixture of carbon dioxide/methane. Some of the filled rubbery polymers achieve intrinsic separation properties comparable to cellulose acetate, polysulfone or polyethersulfone. However, zeolite 5A leads to a decrease in permeability and an unchanged selectivity. This is due to the impermeable character of these particles, i.e. carbon dioxide molecules cannot diffuse through the porous structure under the conditions applied. Using silicate-1 also results in an improvement of the oxygen/nitrogen separation properties which is mainly due to a kinetic effect. Carbon molecular sieves do not improve the separation performances or only to a very small extent. This is caused by a mainly dead-end (not interconnected) porous structure which is inherent to their manufacturing process.     

晶格氧部分氧化甲烷制合成气

用储氧材料中的晶格氧代替分子氧部分氧化甲烷制合成气,并以空气、H₂O或CO₂为氧源对失去晶格氧的储氧材料进行氧化再生,是一种通过气固反应制取合成气的新工艺。具有较高经济效益和环境效益。本文综述了外该技术在储氧材料和反应体系等方面的研究进展,并从合成气和金属联产工艺以及熔融盐储能的研究思路中得出了一些启示,对该技术今后的研究重点和应用领域进行了展望。     

等离子法天然气重整制备高值燃料的技术(英文)

等离子化法是一种在天然气重整为氢气、合成气、Ｃ２产物（乙烷、乙烯和乙炔）、甲醇、乙醇等更有用燃料时所采用的技术。本文述及了最近该技术领域的发展动态,即技术简化、能耗降低、甲烷转化率和产物选择性的提高等;特别强调了两种条件下的等离子化重整法和催化杂化等离子法等方法,这些方法可使等离子技术在未来工业化应用时更具竞争力。     

Preface for the Special Column of Methane Transformation

Methane is the main constituent of natural gas, coal-bed gas, landfill gas and methane hydrate resources. These resources may be used more efficiently as clean fuels or as chemical feedstocks if methane can be effectively transformed into liquid fuels or chemicals. However, methane only possesses C-H bonds and is a very stable organic molecule hard to functionalize. The C-H activation, particularly the selective functionalization of C-H bonds in saturated hydrocarbons, remains a difficult challenge in chemistry. The present technology for chemical utilization of methane involves the steam reforming of methane to synthesis gas and the subsequent transformation of synthesis gas to methanol or hydrocarbon fuels via methanol synthesis or Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. However, the steam reforming of methane is a high-cost process. The development of more efficient and economical processes for methane transformation is a dream of all chemists and chemical engineers. I think that this is also one of the most important themes of the Journal of Natural Gas Chemistry.     

面向环境应用的超重力反应器强化技术:从理论到工业化

工业酸性气体是造成环境污染的最主要因素之一.本文围绕国家环保超低排放新要求,提出了超重力反应强化理论原理和新途径,利用超重力反应器数量级强化传质和超短停留时间优势,高选择性地从混合酸性气体中反应脱除SO2、H2S或CO2,实现了硫化物超低排放;提出了"科学实验+微观机理模型+宏观CFD模拟"三位一体的超重力反应器放大方法,实现了超重力反应器的工程放大,研制出国际规模最大的超重力反应器(转子直径3.5 m、外壳5 m,气体处理量20×104 m3/h)并投入产业化应用;该强化新技术现已在工业尾气脱SO2、石油炼厂气和海洋天然气脱H2S、电厂烟气脱CO2等环保工程中实现了工业应用和推广.     

CO2 removal from synthetic natural gas for city gas use

Membrane-based gas separation has been applied for carbon dioxide (CO₂) removal from commercial city gas supply plants in Japan. This paper provides the relationship between methane reforming process, design of two-stage membrane process and their optimization.     

Pushing the limits on possibilities for large scale gas separation: which strategies?

Opportunities abound to extend membrane markets for gas and vapor separations; however, the existing membrane materials, membrane structures and formation processes are inadequate to fully exploit these opportunities. The requirements for viability of membranes vary somewhat with each application. Nevertheless, the key requirements of durability, productivity and separation efficiency must be balanced against cost in all cases. The various ‘contender’ technologies for large scale gas separation membrane applications and the gas transport mechanisms are considered. The current spectrum of applications of gas separation membranes include; nitrogen enrichment, oxygen enrichment, hydrogen recovery, acid gas CO₂, H₂S removal from natural gas and dehydration of air and natural gas. The current status and the limitations faced by the available membrane materials for each of these applications are discussed. Two key technical challenges exist. Achieving higher permselectivity for the relevant application with at least equivalent productivity is the first of these challenges. Maintaining these properties in the presence of complex and aggressive feeds is the second challenge. Attractive avenues to overcome these challenges for each application will be presented. Finally, several new membrane applications with immense potential (e.g. fuel cells and olefin-paraffin separations) are discussed.     

SK Hydrodesulfurization (HDS) Pretreatment Technology for Ultralow Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) Production

SK Corporation of Korea has developed a unique process, SK hydrodesulfurization (HDS) pretreatment technology, to produce ultralow sulfur diesel (ULSD) with pretreatment of the middle-distillate-range petroleum fractions. This technology has been successfully demonstrated through a 1000 barrel/day (B/D) demonstration plant, which has been running since May 2002. This technology is based on the adsorptive removal of a small amount of nitrogen-based natural polar compounds (NPC). Dramatic improvement in deep HDS efficiency is observed with the removal of NPC from the feedstock.SK HDS pretreatment process consists of multiple adsorbers, two stripping columns for desorbent recovery, associated pumps, and overhead system. Middle distillate feed is pretreated prior to HDS process in the adsorbent vessels followed by stripping to remove a small amount of desorbent. The pretreated is then sent to the downstream HDS unit for sulfur removal. The rejected stream with high nitrogen content, about 2vol%, can be either used as a blending stock for heavy petroleum products or processed in other refining units.This paper describes the fundamental principle of the process, discusses the case study results with various feedstocks and operation conditions in pilot plant and demonstration plant, and provides economic assessment data.     

P-T stability conditions of methane hydrate in sediment from South China Sea

For reasonable assessment and safe exploitation of marine gas hydrate resource, it is important to determine the stability conditions of gas hydrates in marine sediment. In this paper, the seafloor water sample and sediment sample (saturated with pore water) from Shenhu Area of South China Sea were used to synthesize methane hydrates, and the stability conditions of methane hydrates were investigated by multi-step heating dissociation method. Preliminary experimental results show that the dissociation temperature of methane hydrate both in seafloor water and marine sediment, under any given pressure, is depressed by approximately -1.4 K relative to the pure water system. This phenomenon indicates that hydrate stability in marine sediment is mainly affected by pore water ions.     

Conversion of natural gas to C_2 hydrocarbons via cold plasma technology

The plasma technology served as a tool in unconventional catalysis has been used in natural gas conversion,because the traditional catalytic methane oxidative coupling reaction must be performed at high temperature on account of the stability of methane molecule.The focus of this research is to develop a process of converting methane to C2 hydrocarbons with non-equilibrium plasma technology at room temperature and atmospheric pressure.It was found that methane conversion increased and the selectivity of C2 hydrocarbons decreased with the voltage.The optimum input voltage range was 40-80 V corresponding to high yield of C2 hydrocarbons.Methane conversion decreased and the selectivity of C2 hydrocarbons increased with the inlet flow rate of methane.The proper methane flow rate was 20-40 ml/min (corresponding residence time 10-20 s).The experimental results show that methane conversion was 47% and the selectivity of C2 hydrocarbons was 40% under the proper condition using atmospheric DBD cold plasma technology.It was found that the breakdown voltage of methane VB was determined by the type of electrode and the discharge gap width in this glow discharge reactor.The breakdown voltage of methane VB,min derived from the Paschen law equation was established.     

甲烷三重整制合成气

甲烷三重整是利用CO₂-H₂O-O₂ 同时重整甲烷的过程。该工艺既可以生产H₂/CO 为1.5 —2.0的合成气,又可以缓解甚至消除催化剂的积炭,适合于更廉价地生产用于合成甲醇、二甲醚以及清洁燃料等下游产品的合成气。本文重点评述了近年来国内外甲烷三重整制合成气在热力学、催化剂、反应器、动力学等方面的研究进展,指出甲烷三重整反应在电厂烟气、煤层气、天然气综合利用方面具备良好前景,但要通过该过程实现廉价合成气的生产,仍需研制高活性、抗积炭性能强的催化剂,并对反应器进行改进,以及进行反应机理和反应动力学的深入研究。     

The Direct Catalytic Oxidation of Methane to Methanol—A Critical Assessment

Despite the large number of disparate approaches for the direct selective partial oxidation of methane, none of them has translated into an industrial process. The oxidation of methane to methanol is a difficult, but intriguing and rewarding, task as it has the potential to eliminate the prevalent natural gas flaring by providing novel routes to its valorization. This Review considers the synthesis of methanol and methanol derivatives from methane by homogeneous and heterogeneous pathways. By establishing the severe limitations related to the direct catalytic synthesis of methanol from methane, we highlight the vastly superior performance of systems which produce methanol derivatives or incorporate specific measures, such as the use of multicomponent catalysts to stabilize methanol. We thereby identify methanol protection as being indispensable for future research on homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis.     

Separation and permeation characteristics of a DD3R zeolite membrane

Permeation of various gases (carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, nitrogen, oxygen, argon, krypton, neon) and their equimolar mixtures through DD3R membranes have been investigated over a temperature range of 220–373 K and a feed pressure of 101–400 kPa. Helium was used as sweep gas at atmospheric pressure. Adsorption isotherms were determined in the temperature range 195–298 K, and modelled by a single and dual site Langmuir model. The permeation flux is determined by the size of the molecule relative to the window opening of DD3R, and its adsorption behaviour. As a function of temperature, bulky molecules (methane) show activated permeation, weakly adsorbing molecules decreasing permeation behaviour and strongly adsorbing molecules pass through a maximum. Counter diffusion of the sweep gas (helium) ranged from almost zero up to the order of the feed gas permeation and was strongly influenced by the adsorption of the feed gas.

DD3R membranes have excellent separation performance for carbon dioxide/methane mixtures (selectivity 100–3000), exhibit good selectivity for nitrogen/methane (20–45), carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide/air (20–400), and air/krypton (5–10) and only a modest selectivity for oxygen/nitrogen (2) separation. The selectivity of mixtures of a strongly and a weakly adsorbing component decreased with increasing temperature and pressure. The selectivity of mixtures of weakly adsorbing components was independent of pressure.

The permeation and separation characteristics of light gases through DD3R membranes can be explained by taking into account: (1) steric effects introduced by the window opening of DD3R leading to molecular sieving and activated transport, (2) competitive adsorption effects, as observed for mixtures involving strongly adsorbing gases, and (3) interaction between diffusing molecules in the cages of the zeolite.     

Removal of high concentration CO2 from natural gas at elevated pressure via absorption process in packed column

Carbon dioxide (CO2) removal is an essential step in natural gas (NG) processing to provide high quality gas stream products and minimize operational difficulties. This preliminary study aims to investigate the removal of CO2 at high concentration level from the mixture of CO2-NG gas stream at elevated pressure via absorption process. This is to explore the possibility of exploring high CO2 content natural gas reserves by treatment at offshore platform. A mixed amine solvent, Stonvent-II, was used for the absorption of approximately 75 vol% CO2 in CO2-NG stream at a pressure of 10 barg. The initial solvent temperature was varied in order to study the impact of initial temperature on the absorption performance. Preliminary study at temperatures of 35°C and 45°C indicates that Stonvent-II was able to perform almost 100% removal of CO2 under both conditions. However, the CO2 absorption effect took place faster when the initial liquid temperature was lower. This is because when the initial liquid temperature is high, the temperature increase in the packing bed caused by the reaction heat is high which impacts the efficiency of absorption negatively.     

Catalytic Systems for the H<Subscript>2</Subscript>S Wet Oxidation at room Temperature

The catalytic wet oxidation process is the most attractive process for small-scale hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) removal from natural gas. The catalytic wet oxidation process is anticipated to be cost effective and simple so that it can be used for treating sour gases containing small amounts of H₂S and can be easily operated even in isolated sites. The development of effective catalyst is the key technology in the wet catalytic oxidation of H₂S. The scale of operation for the process has to be flexible so its use will not be limited by the flow rates of the gas to be treated. The heterogeneous catalytic wet oxidation of H₂S has been attempted on activated carbons, but the H₂S removal capacity still shows the low removal efficiency. The catalytic wet oxidation of H₂S was studied over Fe/MgO for an effective removal of H₂S. In order to develop a sulfur removal technology, one has to know what surface species of catalyst are the most active. This article discusses the following systematic studies: (i) the catalytic preparation to disperse Fe metal well on MgO support for enhancing H₂S removal capacity, (ii) the effect of the catalytic morphology on the activity of Fe/MgO for the H₂S wet oxidation, (iii) the influence of precursor and support on the activity of Fe/MgO for catalytic wet oxidation of H₂S to sulfur.     

Analysis of natural gas: the necessity of multiple standards for calibration

The importance of natural gas as an international trading commodity and the cost to consumers has made the accuracy of determinations for the components of natural gas very important. Pricing of natural gas is based on the heating value of the gas determined from either calorimetry measurements or calculations based on individual component concentrations determined by gas chromatography (GC). Due to the expense of accurate calibration standards, many analysts and laboratories will use a single calibration standard to perform natural gas determinations. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine whether an analyst could accurately measure the components of natural gas, in particular methane, using a single standard, or whether a suite of standards is necessary to calibrate the analytical instrument. A suite of eight gravimetric primary standards was prepared covering a concentration range for methane of 64-94 mol%, with uncertainties of +/-0.05% relative (95% confidence interval). These natural gas primary standards also contained nitrogen, carbon dioxide, ethane, propane, iso-butane, n-butane, iso-pentane, n-pentane, and n-hexane with varying concentrations from 0.02 to 14%. A single analytical method was used in which only the amount of sample injected onto the column was altered. The results show that when injecting a 0.5 ml sample volume a second-order regression through the standards is necessary for the determination of methane. The results for nitrogen, ethane and propane also show the same trend. Only those individual standards whose methane concentration is within 1% of the test mixture predicted a concentration within 0.05% of the regression value. Those individual primary standards whose methane concentration is different by more than +/-1% of the test mixture predicted values differing by +/-0.5 to +/-2.0% from the regression value. These differences lie well outside the predicted concentration uncertainty interval of +/-0.20%. A smaller sample volume, 0.1 ml, resulted in a set of data that could be fit using linear regression. Each of the eight primary standards individually predicted the methane in the test mixture to be within +/-0.11% of the predicted value from linear regression. The data confirm that it is imperative to fully characterize the analytical system before proceeding with an analysis.