| The objective of the present research was to study the effects of different membrane processes configurations and recycle schemes on the performance and economics of membrane and hybrid (membrane/absorption) processes for the separation of gas mixtures. The following applications were considered: (a) the production of oxygen-enriched air and (b) the removal of acid gases (CO;The operating conditions of seven different membrane process configurations for the removal of acid gases from natural gas were optimized on the basis of new, more meaningful process variables. A three-stage configuration (consisting of a single permeation stage in series with a two-stage cascade) resulted in the lowest separation cost. At the base case operating conditions, membrane processes for the removal of CO;The operating conditions for six different membrane process configurations were optimized to determine the lowest cost for the production of oxygen-enriched air containing a minimum of 30 mole-% O... |
