Nanoporous Membrane Gas Separation Preventing Liquid Wetting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing membrane gas separation technologies face issues with membrane wetting and degradation due to overpressure, leading to reduced transfer rates and operational inefficiencies in removing acid gases like CO2 and H2S from natural and associated petroleum gases.
Innovation Solution
The use of nanoporous membranes with a pore diameter of 5-500 nm and low pore size dispersion, maintained below the membrane bubble point pressure, prevents liquid penetration and enhances gas transfer efficiency while resisting material degradation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If transmembrane pressure is increased to enhance gas transfer rate, then productivity improves, but membrane wetting and liquid penetration occur leading to degradation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs nanoporous membranes with specifically controlled pore sizes (5-500 nm) and uniform pore size distribution. The porous structure is designed to maintain capillary pressure that prevents liquid penetration while allowing gas permeation, thus enabling high productivity without compromising membrane reliability through wetting or structural degradation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the critical parameter of pore diameter to the nanometer range (5-500 nm) with low dispersion, which fundamentally alters the pressure requirements. This parameter change allows the membrane to withstand higher transmembrane pressures for enhanced gas transfer while preventing liquid phase penetration that would occur with larger pores, thereby resolving the contradiction between productivity and reliability.
2Reliability
If pore size is reduced to prevent liquid penetration, then membrane reliability improves, but gas permeability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes nanoporous membranes with pore diameters in the 5-500 nm range, which is the optimal nanoscale window that simultaneously provides sufficient mechanical strength to resist liquid penetration while maintaining adequate gas permeability. The uniform pore size distribution ensures consistent performance across the membrane structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite membrane structures combining nanoporous support layers with selective permeable layers. This composite approach allows the use of smaller pores for liquid rejection while the composite structure as a whole maintains high gas permeability through the selective layer's optimized properties, thus resolving the contradiction between reliability and productivity.
3Ease of manufacture
If pore size distribution is widened to improve manufacturing ease, then ease of manufacture improves, but separation precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent specifies nanoporous membranes with pore size dispersion not exceeding 50%, which balances manufacturability with performance. This controlled dispersion range allows for practical fabrication using available nanoporous material synthesis techniques while maintaining sufficient pore size uniformity to prevent liquid penetration and ensure consistent gas separation performance.
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
This method achieves high CO2 extraction rates of over 0.3 nm3/(m2·h) at a packing density of up to 3200 m2/m3, reducing capital and operating costs, and ensuring efficient processing of natural and associated petroleum gases with improved membrane resistance to operational failures.
Implementation Method 1
maintained below the membrane bubble point pressure... prevents mutual permeation of gas into the liquid phase of an absorbent and the liquid absorbent into the gas phase
Implementation Method 2
when the liquid absorbent penetrates the membrane pores, because in the liquid CO2 diffusion coefficients are significantly lower than in the gas phase, the rate of gas transfer through the membrane significantly decreases
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to the field of membrane gas separation. A method of removing components of gas mixtures which is based on passing the components of a gas mixture through a nanoporous membrane and subsequently selectively absorbing them with a liquid absorbent that is in contact with the nanoporous membrane, wherein to prevent the gas from getting into the liquid phase of the absorbent and the liquid phase of the absorbent from getting into the gas phase, a nanoporous membrane with homogeneous porosity (size distribution less than 50%) and a pore diameter in the range of 5-500 nm is used, and the pressure differential between the gas phase and the liquid absorbent is kept below the membrane bubble point pressure. An acid gas removal performance of more than 0.3 nm3/(m2 hour) in terms of CO2 is achieved at a hollow-fiber membrane packing density of up to 3200 m2/m3, which corresponds to a specific volumetric performance of acid gas removal of up to 1000 nm3 (m3 hour). The technical result is that of providing effective extraction of undesirable components from natural and process gas mixtures.