Gas separation membrane bundle with convertible flow configurations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023398494-A1
Application number	US-202217835961-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 9, 2022
Priority date	Jun 9, 2022
Publication date	Dec 14, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

A hollow fiber membrane bundle useful for manufacturing a wide variety of hollow fiber membrane modules having different flow configurations includes hollow fiber membranes arranged around a porous support tube, a cured resin tubesheet formed at first end of the bundle, and either a cured resin nub or a cured resin tubesheet formed at a second end of the bundle. The bore(s) of the hollow fiber membranes are open at a face of the tubesheet adjacent the first end of the bundle. The tubesheet has an annular structure that encapsulates the hollow fiber membranes and the porous support tube at the first end of the bundle but which does not completely block a bore of the porous support tube, wherein the collection tube has a plurality of orifices formed therein at least at positions adjacent the nub.

First claim

1 . A hollow fiber membrane bundle that is convertible into a hollow fiber membrane module with a cross-flow configuration or a hollow fiber membrane module with a counter-current configuration, comprising hollow fiber membranes arranged around a porous support tube, a cured resin tubesheet formed at first end of the bundle, and a cured resin nub is formed at a second end of the bundle, wherein:
the bore(s) of the hollow fiber membranes are open at a face of the tubesheet adjacent the first end of the bundle; the bore(s) of the hollow fiber membranes adjacent the second end of the bundle are blocked by the nub; the tubesheet has an annular structure that encapsulates the hollow fiber membranes and the support tube at the first end of the bundle but which does not completely block a bore of the porous support tube; the collection tube has a plurality of orifices formed in an outer circumferential surface of the collection tube at least at positions adjacent the nub or tubesheet adjacent the second end of the bundle.

2 . The hollow fiber membrane bundle of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of orifices are disposed at positions adjacent to the tubesheet, positions adjacent to the nub, and positions in between the tubesheet and nub.

3 . The hollow fiber membrane bundle of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of orifices are disposed only at positions adjacent the nub and not at positions adjacent the tubesheet.

4 . A method of manufacturing a shell-fed hollow fiber membrane module with a cross-flow configuration, comprising the steps of:
disposing the hollow fiber membrane bundle of claim 2 concentrically within a pressure vessel, a seal being disposed at an interface where the an outer peripheral surface of the tubesheet is in contact with an inner surface of the pressure vessel the tubesheet so as to form a gas-tight seal between the tubesheet and the pressure vessel, a feed gas port being formed in the pressure vessel at a position between the nub and the tubesheet; and securing first and second end caps at first and second ends of the tubular pressure vessel, respectively, the first and second caps and the first and second ends of the pressure vessel, respectively, forming gas-tight seals therebetween, wherein:
the first end of the collection tube is in gas-tight fluid communication with a residue port that is formed in the second end cap;
the second end of the collection tube is blocked to form a gas-tight seal between the collection tube and a space adjacent the first end cap; and
the open bores of the hollow fiber membranes are in fluid communication with a gas-tight permeate port that is formed in either the first end cap or in the pressure vessel at a position between the tubesheet and the first end cap.

5 . A method of manufacturing a shell-fed hollow fiber membrane module with a counter-current configuration, comprising the steps of:
wrapping a film or fabric around a portion of the circumference of the hollow fiber membrane bundle of claim 3 contiguous with the nub to leave a gap in between the tubesheet and an end of the film or fabric; disposing the film or fabric-wrapped hollow fiber membrane bundle concentrically within a pressure vessel, a seal being disposed at an interface where the an outer peripheral surface of the tubesheet is in contact with an inner surface of the pressure vessel the tubesheet so as to form a gas-tight seal between the tubesheet and the pressure vessel, a feed gas port being formed in the pressure vessel at a position between the nub and the tubesheet; and securing first and second end caps at first and second ends of the tubular pressure vessel, respectively, the first and second caps and the first and second ends of the pressure vessel respectively forming gas-tight seals therebetween, wherein:
the first end of the collection tube is in gas-tight fluid communication with a first end of a residue outlet tube that extends out of an exterior of the first end cap, a second end of which is in gas-tight fluid communication with a residue port that is formed in the first end cap, via the residue outlet tube, thereby providing a gas-tight passage for residue from the collection tube to the residue port via the residue outlet tube; and
the open bores of the hollow fiber membranes are in fluid communication with either: i) a permeate port formed in the first end cap or in the pressure vessel at a position between the tubesheet and the second end cap, or ii) a permeate outlet tube extending into and along a bore of the residue outlet tube and out the residue port, the permeate outlet tube being sealed from the residue outlet tube so as to prevent residue from leaking into the permeate outlet tube.

6 . A method of manufacturing a shell-fed hollow fiber membrane module with a cross-flow configuration, comprising the steps of:
disposing the hollow fiber membrane bundle of claim 2 concentrically within a pressure vessel, a seal being disposed at an interface where the an outer peripheral surface of the tubesheet is in contact with an inner surface of the pressure vessel the tubesheet so as to form a gas-tight seal between the tubesheet and the pressure vessel, a residue gas port being formed in the pressure vessel at a position between the nub and the tubesheet; and securing first and second end caps at first and second ends of the tubular pressure vessel, respectively, the first and second caps and the first and second ends of the pressure vessel, respectively, forming gas-tight seals therebetween, wherein:
the first end of the collection tube is in gas-tight fluid communication with a feed gas port that is formed in the second end cap, via a feed gas inlet tube;
the second end of the collection tube is blocked to form a gas-tight seal between the collection tube and a space adjacent the first end cap; and
the open bores of the hollow fiber membranes are in fluid communication with a gas-tight permeate port that is formed in either the first end cap or in the pressure vessel at a position between the tubesheet and the first end cap.

7 . A method of manufacturing a shell-fed hollow fiber membrane module with a counter-current configuration, comprising the steps of:
wrapping a film or fabric around a portion of the circumference of the hollow fiber membrane bundle of claim 3 contiguous with the nub to leave a gap in between the tubesheet and an end of the film or fabric; disposing the film or fabric-wrapped hollow fiber membrane bundle concentrically within a pressure vessel, a seal being disposed at an interface where the an outer peripheral surface of the tubesheet is in contact with an inner surface of the pressure vessel the tubesheet so as to form a gas-tight seal between the tubesheet and the pressure vessel, a residue gas port being formed in the pressure vessel at a position between the nub and the tubesheet; and securing first and second end caps at first and second ends of the tubular pressure vessel, respectively, the first and second caps and the first and second ends of the pressure vessel respectively forming gas-tight seals therebetween, wherein:
the first end of the collection tube is in gas-tight fluid communication with a feed gas port that is formed in the first end cap; and
the open bores of the hollow fiber membranes are in fluid communication with a permeate port formed in the second end cap or in the pressure vessel at a position between the tubesheet and the second end cap.

8 . A method of optimized manufacturing of hollow fiber membrane modules, comprising the steps of;
providing first and second pluralities of the hollow fiber membrane bundle of claim 1 at a same facility; manufacturing a first plurality of hollow fiber membrane modules by performing the method of claim 4 ; and manu

Assignees

• Lair Liquide Sa Pour Letude Et L’Exploitation Des Procedes Georges Claude
• Air Liquide Advanced Tech Us Llc

Inventors

• Karode Sandeep K
• Beers Karl
• Kulkarni Sudhir S
• Poludniak Tim
• Worley Fan Z
• Sanders Jr Ed

Classifications

• B01D63/022 Primary

  Encapsulating hollow fibres · CPC title

• B01D69/08

  Hollow fibre membranes (manufacture of hollow fibres D01D5/24, D01F1/08) · CPC title

• B01D53/22

  by diffusion (manufacturing semi-permeable membranes B01D67/00; form, structure or properties of semi-permeable membranes B01D69/00; material for semi-permeable membranes B01D71/00) · CPC title

• B01D2053/224

  with hollow fibres · CPC title

• B01D2315/24

  Counter-current operation · CPC title