Method and system for purification of helium using cryogenic, membrane, and adsorption techniques

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11952270-B2
Application number	US-202117494763-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 5, 2021
Priority date	Oct 5, 2020
Publication date	Apr 9, 2024
Grant date	Apr 9, 2024

Abstract

A method and system for purification of helium and CO2 from a stream containing at least Helium, CO2, nitrogen or methane uses a combination of cryogenic, membrane and adsorption technologies.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A process for purifying a pressurized feed stream containing at least 30 mol % CO 2 and at most 10 mol % helium, comprising the steps of: partially condensing the pressurized feed stream in a heat exchanger to obtain a helium-rich gas stream and a CO 2 -rich liquid stream; separating the helium-rich gas stream in a gas separation membrane-based separation unit to obtain a first permeate stream and a first residue stream; compressing the first permeate stream, or a fraction thereof, to obtain a compressed permeate stream; introducing at least a fraction of the compressed permeate stream into the heat exchanger at which the introduced at least one fraction of the compressed stream is partially condensed to produce a gaseous permeate stream and a liquid permeate stream; and purifying at least a fraction of the gaseous permeate stream to obtain a purified helium stream containing at least 70 mol % helium.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein said step of purifying at least a fraction of the gaseous permeate stream comprises purifying said at least a fraction of the gaseous permeate stream in an adsorption-based separation unit.

3. The process of claim 2 , wherein purification of at least a fraction of the gaseous permeate stream in the adsorption-based separation unit also results in at least one waste stream that is combined with the helium-rich gas stream prior to separation of the helium-rich being separated in the gas separation membrane-based separation unit.

4. The process of claim 2 , wherein purification of at least a fraction of the gaseous permeate stream in the adsorption-based separation unit also results in at least one waste stream that is combined with the pressurized feed stream prior to partial condensation of the pressurized feed stream in the heat exchanger.

5. The process of claim 2 , wherein said adsorption-based separation unit is a pressure swing adsorption unit or vacuum pressure swing adsorption unit.

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein said step of purifying at least a fraction of the gaseous permeate stream comprises purifying said at least a fraction of the gaseous permeate stream in a gas separation membrane-based separation unit.

7. The process of claim 1 , further comprising a step of mixing at least a fraction of the liquid permeate stream with at least one of said CO 2 -rich liquid stream to provide a combined CO 2 -containing stream.

8. The process of claim 7 , further comprising a step of warming at least a portion of the CO 2 -rich liquid stream in the heat exchanger.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein the pressurized feed stream is obtained by expanding a raw feed stream in a Joule-Thomson valve, separating the expanded raw feed stream in a phase separator into a first gas stream and a first liquid stream, and removing the first gas stream from the phase separator as the pressurized feed stream.

10. The process of claim 7 , further comprising a step of removing moisture from the pressurized feed stream prior to said step of partial condensation.

11. The process of claim 1 , wherein: said gas separation membrane-based separation unit comprises first and second membrane stages; and said step of separating the helium-rich gas stream in a gas separation membrane-based separation unit comprises the steps of separating the helium-rich gas stream in the first membrane stage to provide the first permeate stream and the first residue stream, separating the first residue stream in the second membrane stage to provide a second permeate stream and a second residue stream, and optionally combining the second permeate stream with the helium-rich gas stream prior to separation in the first membrane stage.

12. The process of claim 1 , wherein: said gas separation membrane-based separation unit comprises first and second membrane stages; and said step of separating the helium-rich gas stream in a gas separation membrane-based separation unit comprises the steps of separating the helium-rich gas stream in the first membrane stage to provide the first permeate stream and the first residue stream, separating the first residue stream in the second membrane stage to provide a second permeate stream and a second residue stream, and optionally combining the second permeate stream with the pressurized feed stream prior to partial condensation of the pressurized feed stream in the heat exchanger.

13. The process of claim 1 , further comprising a step of removing an amount of hydrogen, by partial oxidation, from the compressed first permeate stream prior to partial condensation of the introduced at least one fraction of the compressed stream.

14. The process of claim 1 , further comprising a step of removing an amount of H 2 S, with a non-regenerable adsorption bed, from the compressed first permeate stream prior to partial condensation of the introduced at least one fraction of the compressed stream.

15. The process of claim 1 , wherein the pressurized feed stream is natural gas or a gas mixture derived from natural gas or associated gas and the pressurized feed stream also includes methane and optionally nitrogen.

Assignees

• Air Liquide Advanced Tech Us Llc
• Air Liquide
• Air Liquide Advanced Tech Us Llc

Inventors

• Terrien Paul
• Guerif Pierre-Philippe
• Follaca Vincent
• Guillard Alain
• Tazi Youssef

Classifications

• C01B23/0042 Primary

  by making use of membranes · CPC title

• B01D53/229

  Integrated processes (Diffusion and at least one other process, e.g. adsorption, absorption) · CPC title

• C01B23/0078

  Temperature swing adsorption · CPC title

• B01D2256/18

  Noble gases · CPC title

• C01B2210/0031

  Helium · CPC title