Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
  • C10L—FUELS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; NATURAL GAS; SYNTHETIC NATURAL GAS OBTAINED BY PROCESSES NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C10G, C10K; LIQUEFIED PETROLEUM GAS; ADDING MATERIALS TO FUELS OR FIRES TO REDUCE SMOKE OR UNDESIRABLE DEPOSITS OR TO FACILITATE SOOT REMOVAL; FIRELIGHTERS
  • C10L3/00—Gaseous fuels; Natural gas; Synthetic natural gas obtained by processes not covered by subclass C10G, C10K; Liquefied petroleum gas
  • C10L3/06—Natural gas; Synthetic natural gas obtained by processes not covered by C10G, C10K3/02 or C10K3/04
  • C10L3/10—Working-up natural gas or synthetic natural gas
  • C10L3/101—Removal of contaminants
  • C10L3/102—Removal of contaminants of acid contaminants
  • C10L3/104—Carbon dioxide
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01D—SEPARATION
  • B01D53/00—Separation of gases or vapours; Recovering vapours of volatile solvents from gases; Chemical or biological purification of waste gases, e.g. engine exhaust gases, smoke, fumes, flue gases, aerosols
  • B01D53/14—Separation of gases or vapours; Recovering vapours of volatile solvents from gases; Chemical or biological purification of waste gases, e.g. engine exhaust gases, smoke, fumes, flue gases, aerosols by absorption
  • B01D53/1418—Recovery of products
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01D—SEPARATION
  • B01D53/00—Separation of gases or vapours; Recovering vapours of volatile solvents from gases; Chemical or biological purification of waste gases, e.g. engine exhaust gases, smoke, fumes, flue gases, aerosols
  • B01D53/14—Separation of gases or vapours; Recovering vapours of volatile solvents from gases; Chemical or biological purification of waste gases, e.g. engine exhaust gases, smoke, fumes, flue gases, aerosols by absorption
  • B01D53/1431—Pretreatment by other processes
  • B01D53/1443—Pretreatment by diffusion
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01D—SEPARATION
  • B01D53/00—Separation of gases or vapours; Recovering vapours of volatile solvents from gases; Chemical or biological purification of waste gases, e.g. engine exhaust gases, smoke, fumes, flue gases, aerosols
  • B01D53/22—Separation of gases or vapours; Recovering vapours of volatile solvents from gases; Chemical or biological purification of waste gases, e.g. engine exhaust gases, smoke, fumes, flue gases, aerosols by diffusion
  • B01D53/229—Integrated processes (Diffusion and at least one other process, e.g. adsorption, absorption)
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01D—SEPARATION
  • B01D53/00—Separation of gases or vapours; Recovering vapours of volatile solvents from gases; Chemical or biological purification of waste gases, e.g. engine exhaust gases, smoke, fumes, flue gases, aerosols
  • B01D53/34—Chemical or biological purification of waste gases
  • B01D53/46—Removing components of defined structure
  • B01D53/62—Carbon oxides
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01D—SEPARATION
  • B01D2257/00—Components to be removed
  • B01D2257/30—Sulfur compounds
  • B01D2257/304—Hydrogen sulfide
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01D—SEPARATION
  • B01D2257/00—Components to be removed
  • B01D2257/50—Carbon oxides
  • B01D2257/504—Carbon dioxide
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01D—SEPARATION
  • B01D2258/00—Sources of waste gases
  • B01D2258/05—Biogas
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01D—SEPARATION
  • B01D53/00—Separation of gases or vapours; Recovering vapours of volatile solvents from gases; Chemical or biological purification of waste gases, e.g. engine exhaust gases, smoke, fumes, flue gases, aerosols
  • B01D53/14—Separation of gases or vapours; Recovering vapours of volatile solvents from gases; Chemical or biological purification of waste gases, e.g. engine exhaust gases, smoke, fumes, flue gases, aerosols by absorption
  • B01D53/1456—Removing acid components
  • B01D53/1475—Removing carbon dioxide
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02C—CAPTURE, STORAGE, SEQUESTRATION OR DISPOSAL OF GREENHOUSE GASES [GHG]
  • Y02C20/00—Capture or disposal of greenhouse gases
  • Y02C20/40—Capture or disposal of greenhouse gases of CO2

Definitions

• the production capacity of upgraded gas from an upgrading plant using the water scrubber technology may increase with the invention.
• the invention also significantly decreases the specific energy consumption per produced unit volume upgraded gas. It is also possible to obtain a carbon dioxide-rich gas from the membranes.
• biogas upgrading is to obtain a methane-rich product gas by separating mainly carbon dioxide, water and hydrogen sulfide from the biogas.
• Biogas is today mainly upgraded by PSA, water scrubber, amine scrubber and membrane tehnology.
• the marker share of the technologies are PSA (23%), water scrubber (40%), amine scrubber (22%) and membrane technology (8%).
• Other upgrading technologies are genosorb scrubber and cryogenic technology (Biogas upgrading - technology overview, comparison and perspectives for the future, Bauer et. al, DOI: 10.1002/bbb.l423; Biofuels, Bioprod. Bioref. 7:499-511 (2013)).
• Biogas is usually compressed to 6-10 bar with the water scrubber technology and led to an absorption column in which carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide is dissolved in water while methane can be extracted from the top of the absorption column and then dried.
• the water is regenerated by a first pressure reduction in a flash column from which a part of carbon dioxide and methane dissolved in the gas goes back to the incoming biogas flow. Then the water is led to a desorption column where mainly carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide is discharged from the water with air.
• aMDEA activated amines
• Methane does not react with the amine and can be led out from the top of the absorption column.
• the amine is then regenerated by heating the amine in a desorption column.
• the invention shows how membrane technology can be integrated in a way so that methane losses are reduced, the capacity increases and the energy consumption is reduced.
• Inventions in this field have instead focused on integrating membrane technology with other upgrading plants in order to complement the membrane properties.
• the patent US002332424A is an invention of how membranes can be integrated with a PSA to increase the methane yield and purity of the gases.
• the patent US005407466A is an invention of how two different types of membranes can be combined with an amine scrubber or another technique of physical absorption in a genosorb process in order to obtain an improved process for gas treatment.
• this patent does not integrate off-gas streams from the amine scrubber or genosorb scrubber with membrane technology in a way so that the process methane losses and energy use decreases and capacity increases.
• the specific energy consumption of the water scrubber per unit volume of upgraded gas may decrease.
• Membrane technology can be integrated with existing water scrubbers and thereby increase the production capacity of upgraded gas of the water scrubber. Advantages of the membrane technology with relatively low investment cost and specific energy consumption can then be applied to a portion of the gas flow, while the total capacity will be higher and a significant part of the equipment at the existing plant can be used.
• the investment to complement an existing water scrubber plant with membrane technology and related equipment, as well as additional compressor capacity in case that the existing compressor capacity cannot handle an increasing gas flow, is expected to be lower than investing in a brand new upgrading plant to increase the biogas upgrading capacity.
• the invention also provides the advantage that a purchaser of a water scrubber plant has a good alternative to increase the capacity in the future.
• the invention can also be used in the construction of a new upgrading plant.
• the integration between membrane technology and a water scrubber plant enables lower methane losses, higher capacity, lower energy consumption and utilization of carbon dioxide in comparison with a conventional water scrubber plant.
• Gas stream 1 in Figure 1 is merged with gas stream 24 and is led into a compressor 30 to raise the pressure of the gas stream.
• Gas stream 2 has after compressor 30 a pressure of 2-18 bar, essentially 4-16 bar, preferably 8-12 bar and contains mainly methane, carbon dioxide, water, hydrogen sulfide and particles.
• the carbon dioxide concentration in the incoming gas stream 1 is typically between 20-60 vol%, essentially 30-50 vol%, preferably 40-50 vol%.
• the methane content of the gas stream 1 is typically between 40-80 vol%, essentially 50-70 vol%, preferably 50-60 vol%.
• gas stream 2 is led into the water scrubber unit 20.
• the water scrubber unit is integrated with membrane unit 10 via gas stream 24" which is led from the flash column 22 to the membrane unit 10.
• gas stream 24" which is led from the flash column 22 to the membrane unit 10.
• the membranes may be of the type polymeric hollow fiber membranes, carbon membranes, or other types of membranes and different types of membranes may be combined with each other as well as only one type is used.
• the membranes may be arranged in series or parallel or a combination of both.
• From membrane 11 residue stream 3 which mainly contains carbon dioxide and methane leaves. The residual gas stream can be burned in a boiler, be destroyed by thermal oxidation or otherwise handled.
• gas stream 1 is merged with the gas stream 7 and is led into a compressor 30 to raise the pressure.
• Gas stream 2 has before compressor 30 a pressure of 2-18 bar, essentially 4-16 bar, preferably 8-12 bar and contains methane, carbon dioxide, water, hydrogen sulfide and particles.
• the carbon dioxide concentration in gas stream 1 is typically between 20-60 vol%, essentially 30- 50 vol%, preferably 40-50 vol%.
• the methane content in gas stream 1 is between 40-80 vol%, essentially 50-70 vol%, preferably 50-60 vol%.
• the invention with the process configuration according to Figure 3 makes the gas stream 4 to have lower carbon dioxide content in comparison to a water scrubber set up where the membrane unit 10a and 10b are not used.
• the high methane content in the gas stream 4 leads to an increase of the production capacity of upgraded biogas in the water scrubber unit 20 since less carbon dioxide needs to be separated in the absorption column 21. Since it is the total incoming flow of gas to the absorption column that affects the capacity of the water scrubber 20, more upgraded gas is produced. Also energy consumption can be reduced as a result of reduced need for cooling in the water scrubber unit 20, and due to that the water required to separate the carbon dioxide in the gas stream 4 is less than the amount of water that would be needed if membrane unit 10a and 10b had not been integrated with the water scrubber plant.

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• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Oil, Petroleum & Natural Gas (AREA)
• Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
• General Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Analytical Chemistry (AREA)
• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Biomedical Technology (AREA)
• Environmental & Geological Engineering (AREA)
• Organic Chemistry (AREA)
• Gas Separation By Absorption (AREA)
• Separation Using Semi-Permeable Membranes (AREA)
• Treating Waste Gases (AREA)

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• 2014
  • 2014-01-13 SE SE1400012A patent/SE538348C2/sv not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2014-12-16 EP EP14878070.3A patent/EP3094398A4/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2014-12-16 WO PCT/SE2014/000149 patent/WO2015105438A1/en active Application Filing

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