Separation of nitrogen from hydrocarbon gas using pyrolyzed sulfonated macroporous ion exchange resin

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10661219-B2
Application number	US-201615535434-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 6, 2016
Priority date	Jan 27, 2015
Publication date	May 26, 2020
Grant date	May 26, 2020

Abstract

A method for separating N 2 from a hydrocarbon gas mixture containing N 2 comprising the steps of: i) providing a bed of adsorbent selective for N 2 ; (ii) passing the hydrocarbon gas mixture through the bed of adsorbent to at least partially remove N 2 from the gas mixture to produce: (a) N 2 -loaded adsorbent and (b) N 2 -depleted hydrocarbon gas mixture; iii) recovering the N 2 -depleted hydrocarbon gas mixture; iv) regenerating the N 2 -loaded adsorbent by at least partially removing N 2 from the adsorbent; and v) sequentially repeating steps (ii) and (iii) using regenerated adsorbent from step (iv); wherein the adsorbent comprises a pyrolized sulfonated macroporous ion exchange resin.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for separating N 2 from a hydrocarbon gas mixture containing N 2 comprising the steps of:
i) providing a bed of adsorbent selective for N 2 ;
ii) passing the hydrocarbon gas mixture through the bed of adsorbent to at least partially remove N 2 from the gas mixture to produce: (a) N 2 -loaded adsorbent and (b) N 2 -depleted hydrocarbon gas mixture;
iii) recovering the N 2 -depleted hydrocarbon gas mixture;
iv) regenerating the N 2 -loaded adsorbent by at least partially removing N 2 from the adsorbent; and
v) sequentially repeating steps (ii) and (iii) using regenerated adsorbent from step (iv);
wherein the adsorbent comprises a pyrolized macroporous sulfonated ion exchange resin having an average micropore diameter of from 3.64 Å to 3.80 Å; wherein the sulfonated macroporous ion exchange resin comprises a crosslinked macroporous copolymer matrix formed from polymerizing a reaction mixture of styrene and divinylbenzene; wherein the sulfonated macroporous ion exchange resin is pyrolized at a temperature from 1225° C. to 1300° C.; and wherein the sulfonated macroporous ion exchange resin has a dry weight capacity of from 4.5 to 4.9 milliequivalents per gram.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein step (i) occurs in an adsorption chamber, and step (iv) occurs in a desorption chamber, and wherein N 2 -loaded adsorbent is continuously transferred from the adsorption chamber to the desorption chamber, and regenerated adsorbent is continuously transferred from the desorption chamber to the adsorption chamber.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the adsorbent located in the adsorption chamber forms a packed moving bed.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of regenerating the N 2 -loaded adsorbent comprises irradiating the adsorbent with microwaves.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the adsorbent has a N 2 /CH 4 selectivity of greater than 5.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the adsorbent has a N 2 capacity of greater than 0.5 wt %.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the adsorbent has a t 0.5N2 of less than 5 minutes.

Assignees

• Ddp Specialty Electronic Mat Us Inc

Inventors

• Liu Junqiang
• Han Chan
• Goltz H Robert
• Rodgers Matthew L
• Matteucci Scott T
• Kern Brandon J

Classifications

• B01J20/267

  Cross-linked polymers · CPC title

• B01D2256/24

  Hydrocarbons · CPC title

• B01D2253/308

  Pore size · CPC title

• B01D2259/40094

  by applying microwaves · CPC title

• B01J20/3078

  Thermal treatment, e.g. calcining or pyrolizing · CPC title