Cargando…

Superglassy Polymers to Treat Natural Gas by Hybrid Membrane/Amine Processes: Can Fillers Help?

Superglassy polymers have emerged as potential membrane materials for several gas separation applications, including acid gas removal from natural gas. Despite the superior performance shown at laboratory scale, their use at industrial scale is hampered by their large drop in gas permeability over t...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ameen, Ahmed W., Budd, Peter M., Gorgojo, Patricia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7763000/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33322061
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/membranes10120413
_version_ 1783627913226092544
author Ameen, Ahmed W.
Budd, Peter M.
Gorgojo, Patricia
author_facet Ameen, Ahmed W.
Budd, Peter M.
Gorgojo, Patricia
author_sort Ameen, Ahmed W.
collection PubMed
description Superglassy polymers have emerged as potential membrane materials for several gas separation applications, including acid gas removal from natural gas. Despite the superior performance shown at laboratory scale, their use at industrial scale is hampered by their large drop in gas permeability over time due to physical aging. Several strategies are proposed in the literature to prevent loss of performance, the incorporation of fillers being a successful approach. In this work, we provide a comprehensive economic study on the application of superglassy membranes in a hybrid membrane/amine process for natural gas sweetening. The hybrid process is compared with the more traditional stand-alone amine-absorption technique for a range of membrane gas separation properties (CO(2) permeance and CO(2)/CH(4) selectivity), and recommendations for long-term membrane performance are made. These recommendations can drive future research on producing mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) of superglassy polymers with anti-aging properties (i.e., target permeance and selectivity is maintained over time), as thin film nanocomposite membranes (TFNs). For the selected natural gas composition of 28% of acid gas content (8% CO(2) and 20% H(2)S), we have found that a CO(2) permeance of 200 GPU and a CO(2)/CH(4) selectivity of 16 is an optimal target.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7763000
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-77630002020-12-27 Superglassy Polymers to Treat Natural Gas by Hybrid Membrane/Amine Processes: Can Fillers Help? Ameen, Ahmed W. Budd, Peter M. Gorgojo, Patricia Membranes (Basel) Article Superglassy polymers have emerged as potential membrane materials for several gas separation applications, including acid gas removal from natural gas. Despite the superior performance shown at laboratory scale, their use at industrial scale is hampered by their large drop in gas permeability over time due to physical aging. Several strategies are proposed in the literature to prevent loss of performance, the incorporation of fillers being a successful approach. In this work, we provide a comprehensive economic study on the application of superglassy membranes in a hybrid membrane/amine process for natural gas sweetening. The hybrid process is compared with the more traditional stand-alone amine-absorption technique for a range of membrane gas separation properties (CO(2) permeance and CO(2)/CH(4) selectivity), and recommendations for long-term membrane performance are made. These recommendations can drive future research on producing mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) of superglassy polymers with anti-aging properties (i.e., target permeance and selectivity is maintained over time), as thin film nanocomposite membranes (TFNs). For the selected natural gas composition of 28% of acid gas content (8% CO(2) and 20% H(2)S), we have found that a CO(2) permeance of 200 GPU and a CO(2)/CH(4) selectivity of 16 is an optimal target. MDPI 2020-12-10 /pmc/articles/PMC7763000/ /pubmed/33322061 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/membranes10120413 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Ameen, Ahmed W.
Budd, Peter M.
Gorgojo, Patricia
Superglassy Polymers to Treat Natural Gas by Hybrid Membrane/Amine Processes: Can Fillers Help?
title Superglassy Polymers to Treat Natural Gas by Hybrid Membrane/Amine Processes: Can Fillers Help?
title_full Superglassy Polymers to Treat Natural Gas by Hybrid Membrane/Amine Processes: Can Fillers Help?
title_fullStr Superglassy Polymers to Treat Natural Gas by Hybrid Membrane/Amine Processes: Can Fillers Help?
title_full_unstemmed Superglassy Polymers to Treat Natural Gas by Hybrid Membrane/Amine Processes: Can Fillers Help?
title_short Superglassy Polymers to Treat Natural Gas by Hybrid Membrane/Amine Processes: Can Fillers Help?
title_sort superglassy polymers to treat natural gas by hybrid membrane/amine processes: can fillers help?
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7763000/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33322061
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/membranes10120413
work_keys_str_mv AT ameenahmedw superglassypolymerstotreatnaturalgasbyhybridmembraneamineprocessescanfillershelp
AT buddpeterm superglassypolymerstotreatnaturalgasbyhybridmembraneamineprocessescanfillershelp
AT gorgojopatricia superglassypolymerstotreatnaturalgasbyhybridmembraneamineprocessescanfillershelp