H2 recovery and CO2 separation using membrane

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12515950-B2
Application number	US-202418402277-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 2, 2024
Priority date	Jan 2, 2024
Publication date	Jan 6, 2026
Grant date	Jan 6, 2026

Abstract

A method of treating a gas stream that includes: performing a first pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process generating a first H2-product gas and a first PSA tail gas from a first feed gas, the first PSA tail gas including a residual H2 and CO2; separating CO2 from the first PSA tail gas using a CO2 selective membrane, generating a CO2-rich permeate gas and a CO2-lean rejected gas; performing a second PSA process generating a second H2-product gas and a second PSA tail gas from a second feed gas, the second PSA tail gas including another residual H2; mixing the CO2-lean rejected gas and the second PSA tail gas to generate a mixed tail gas; and separating the residual H2 and the another residual H2 from the mixed tail gas using an H2 selective membrane, generating a recovered H2 permeate gas and a final rejected gas.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of treating a gas stream, the method comprising:
performing a first pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process generating a first H 2 -product gas and a first PSA tail gas from a first feed gas, the first PSA tail gas comprising a residual H 2 and CO 2 ; separating CO 2 from the first PSA tail gas using a CO 2 selective membrane, generating a CO 2 -rich permeate gas and a CO 2 -lean rejected gas; performing a second PSA process generating a second H 2 -product gas and a second PSA tail gas from a second feed gas, the second PSA tail gas comprising another residual H 2 ; mixing the CO 2 -lean rejected gas and the second PSA tail gas to generate a mixed tail gas; and separating the residual H 2 and the another residual H 2 from the mixed tail gas using an H 2 selective membrane, generating a recovered H 2 permeate gas and a final rejected gas.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising mixing the recovered H 2 permeate gas with the first feed gas.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising compressing the first PSA tail gas prior to separating the CO 2 from the first PSA tail gas.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising passing the CO 2 -rich permeate gas through another CO 2 selective membrane, generating another CO 2 -rich permeate gas and another CO 2 -lean rejected gas.

5 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising compressing the CO 2 -rich permeate gas prior to passing the CO 2 -rich permeate gas through the another CO 2 selective membrane.

6 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising adding the another CO 2 -lean rejected gas to the mixed tail gas prior to separating the H 2 from the mixed tail gas.

7 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising adding the another CO 2 -lean rejected gas to the first PSA tail gas or the second PSA tail gas.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing a steam reforming, generating the first feed gas.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a CO 2 concentration of the first feed gas is between 10% and 30%.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a CO 2 concentration of the second feed gas is 0.1% or less.

11 . A gas treatment system comprising:
a first pressure swing adsorption (PSA) column to generate a first H 2 -product gas and a first PSA tail gas from a first feed gas, the first PSA tail gas comprising CO 2 and a residual H 2 ; a CO 2 selective membrane, connected to the first PSA column and configured to separate CO 2 from the first PSA tail gas, generating a CO 2 -rich permeate gas and a CO 2 -lean rejected gas; a second PSA column to generate a second H 2 -product gas and a second PSA tail gas from a second feed gas, the second PSA tail gas comprising another residual H 2 ; a tail gas mixer to mix the CO 2 -lean rejected gas and the second PSA tail gas, generating a mixed tail gas; and an H 2 selective membrane to separate the residual H 2 and the another residual H 2 from the mixed tail gas using an H 2 selective membrane, generating a recovered H 2 permeate gas and a final rejected gas.

12 . The gas treatment system of claim 11 , further comprising:
a first compressor between the first PSA column and the CO 2 selective membrane; and a second compressor between the second PSA column and the H 2 selective membrane.

13 . The gas treatment system of claim 11 , further comprising:
another CO 2 selective membrane to receive the CO 2 -rich permeate gas from the CO 2 selective membrane, generating another CO 2 -rich permeate gas and another CO 2 -lean rejected gas; and a third compressor between the CO 2 selective membrane and the another CO 2 selective membrane.

14 . The gas treatment system of claim 13 , wherein the tail gas mixer is configured to add the another CO 2 -lean rejected gas to the mixed tail gas.

15 . The gas treatment system of claim 13 , further comprising a CO 2 mixer between the first PSA column and the CO 2 selective membrane, the CO 2 mixer configured to add the another CO 2 -lean rejected gas to the first PSA tail gas.

16 . The gas treatment system of claim 11 , further comprising a heater to heat the mixed tail gas, the heater being between the mixer and the H 2 selective membrane.

17 . The gas treatment system of claim 11 , further comprising a feed mixer to add the recovered H 2 permeate gas to the first feed gas.

18 . An H 2 recovery system comprising:
a steam reformer to generate a first feed gas comprising H 2 and CO 2 , wherein a CO 2 concentration of the first feed gas is between 10% and 30%; a first pressure swing adsorption (PSA) column to generate a first H 2 -product gas and a first PSA tail gas from the first feed gas, the first PSA tail gas comprising the CO 2 and a residual H 2 ; a CO 2 selective membrane, connected to the first PSA column and configured to separate CO 2 from the first PSA tail gas, generating a CO 2 -rich permeate gas and a CO 2 -lean rejected gas; an H 2 production facility to generate a second feed gas comprising H 2 , wherein a CO 2 concentration of the second feed gas is less than 0.1%; a second PSA column to generate a second H 2 -product gas and a second PSA tail gas from the second feed gas, the second PSA tail gas comprising another residual H 2 ; a tail gas mixer to mix the CO 2 -lean rejected gas and the second PSA tail gas, generating a mixed tail gas; an H 2 selective membrane to separate the residual H 2 and the another residual H 2 from the mixed tail gas using an H 2 selective membrane, generating a recovered H 2 permeate gas and a final rejected gas; and a feed gas mixer to add the recovered H 2 permeate gas to the first feed gas.

19 . The H 2 recovery system of claim 18 , further comprising another CO 2 selective membrane to receive the CO 2 -rich permeate gas from the CO 2 selective membrane, generating another CO 2 -rich permeate gas and another CO 2 -lean rejected gas.

20 . The H 2 recovery system of claim 19 , further comprising a cryogenic distillation system to purify the another CO 2 -rich permeate gas from the another CO 2 selective membrane.

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Ameen Ahmed W
• Alqahtani Mohammad Saad
• Choi Seung-Hak
• Almulhim Faisal Abdulrahman

Classifications

• C01B2210/0051

  Carbon dioxide · CPC title

• C01B2210/001

  by making use of membranes · CPC title

• B01D2317/025

  Permeate series · CPC title

• B01D2257/504

  Carbon dioxide · CPC title

• B01D2256/16

  Hydrogen · CPC title