Coupled Membrane Adsorption Helium Purification Process
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional helium separation, purification, and recovery processes face challenges such as low recovery rate, high equipment investment, high operation energy consumption, and limited production of diversified helium products with high purity, necessitating an optimized coupled process that leverages complementary advantages of membrane and adsorption technologies.
Innovation Solution
A coupled process integrating membrane separation and pressure swing adsorption units, with multiple stages of helium gas recycling, utilizing compressors, pretreatment units, and various membrane components to concentrate helium-containing gases, enabling the production of diversified helium products with high yield and reduced costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a traditional single process (deep cooling, pressure swing adsorption, or membrane separation) is used for helium separation and purification, then high-purity helium products can be obtained, but the problems of single helium product, low recovery rate, high equipment investment, and high operation energy consumption occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines membrane separation technology and pressure swing adsorption technology into a coupled process system. The membrane separation unit performs preliminary concentration of helium-containing gas, and the PSA unit performs further purification, achieving both high recovery rate and high purity through the synergistic combination of two complementary technologies
Solution Approach 2:
The purification process is divided into two stages: first stage uses membrane separation for preliminary concentration to recover more helium, and the second stage uses PSA for final purification to achieve high purity. This segmented approach optimizes both recovery rate and purity by assigning different functions to different process stages
2Manufacturing precision
If a traditional single process is used for helium separation, then high-purity helium can be produced, but diversified helium products with different purities cannot be obtained
Solution Approach 1:
The coupled process system serves multiple functions: it can produce high-purity helium (grade A and above) for high-precision applications, medium-purity helium (85-99 vol%) for general applications, and the process can be adjusted to produce diversified helium products with different purities according to different market demands, making the system universally applicable to various helium needs
3Device complexity
If a traditional single process is used, then the process is simple, but high equipment investment and high operation energy consumption occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements multiple stages of helium-containing gas recycling where the non-helium components rejected by the membrane unit are fed into the PSA unit for further helium recovery, and the PSA tail gas is recycled back to the membrane unit inlet. This continuous recycling minimizes helium loss and reduces overall energy consumption by maximizing helium recovery from all process streams
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The process achieves a high helium recovery rate of over 99% and produces helium products with purities above grade A, meeting various application field requirements while reducing production costs by optimizing the membrane separation and adsorption processes.
Implementation Method 1
passing a first mixture of gases of the helium-containing feed gas f1 and the recycle gas f10 through the first compressor K1 to be pressurized, entering a pressurized gas into the first pretreatment unit PR1 to remove liquid mist and dust through the first pretreatment unit PR1 and allow a temperature of the pressurized gas to be adjusted to 40 to 100° C., and entering a helium-containing gas f2 into the first membrane separation unit M1; secondly, passing the helium-containing gas f2 through the first membrane separation unit M1 to be divided into two material flows, namely, a preliminarily concentrated helium-rich permeated gas f3 and a retentate gas f4 on a basis that different gases have different permeation rates upon passing through a same membrane
Implementation Method 2
a second part of the concentrated helium-containing gas enters a pressure swing adsorption unit for performing helium refining to produce the helium above grade A
Data Source
AI summary
A separation and purification coupled process with a high helium yield and diversified products is provided. The process is as follows. Firstly, a low-concentration helium-containing gas after being pressurized and pre-treated enters a two-stage and two-section membrane separation unit to produce a helium product with a medium concentration by concentrating stage by stage through the membrane separation unit. A part of the helium with medium concentration enters an adsorption unit for further concentration to produce a helium product above grade A.