초록 ▼

In the separation of gases in a membrane system, degradation of membrane permeability is prevented by passing the feed gas mixture through a bed of adsorbent material, preferably activated carbon, to adsorb the heavier hydrocarbon contaminants responsible for degradation without removal of lighter h

In the separation of gases in a membrane system, degradation of membrane permeability is prevented by passing the feed gas mixture through a bed of adsorbent material, preferably activated carbon, to adsorb the heavier hydrocarbon contaminants responsible for degradation without removal of lighter hydrocarbons.

대표청구항 ▼

In a process for the separation of a feed gas mixture in a membrane system capable of selectively permeating a more readily permeable component of said feed gas mixture containing said component and a less readily permeable component, in which said feed gas mixture contains contaminants comprising h

In a process for the separation of a feed gas mixture in a membrane system capable of selectively permeating a more readily permeable component of said feed gas mixture containing said component and a less readily permeable component, in which said feed gas mixture contains contaminants comprising hydrocarbons heavier than C5 (pentane) and lighter hydrocarbons of C5 or less, the improvement consisting essentially of: (a) contacting the feed gas mixture containing said contaminants with a bed of adsorbent material prior to passage to said membrane system, the bed of adsorbent material serving to selectively adsorb the heavier hydrocarbons, with continued selective adsorption of said heavier hydrocarbons from additional quantities of said feed gas mixture resulting in the displacement of lighter hydrocarbons of C5 or less initially adsorbed from the feed gas mixture by said bed, lighter hydrocarbons thus passing through the bed of adsorbent material with said feed gas mixture, the adsorbent bed size/life being determined by said selective adsorption of heavier hydrocarbons rather than the adsorption of both lighter and heavier hydrocarbon contaminants; and (b) passing said feed gas mixture, together with said lighter hydrocarbons, removed from the bed of adsorbent material to the membrane system for the selective permeation of the more readily permeable component of the feed gas mixture, the presence of said lighter hydrocarbons not resulting in appreciable degradation of the permeability of the membrane, whereby the significant degradation of membrane permeability otherwise caused by the presence of heavier hydrocarbons in the feed gas mixture is conveniently prevented, while the adsorbent material size/bed life are optimized for a given gas separation operation by the selective removal of only the heavier hydrocarbons detrimental to membrane permeability rather than the removal of both light and heavy hydrocarbons.