Composite Hollow Fiber Membrane for Natural Gas Treatment

U.S. production of natural gas is about 24 trillion scf/year. About 17% of all domestic raw natural gas must be treated to remove carbon dioxide before it can be passed to the pipeline. Membrane technology has gained acceptance due to its favorable economics, compact system sizes, reliability, and low operating costs. However, commercial membranes suffer from low selectvity and are succeptable to degradation. Therefore, robust membranes with improved performance are needed to reduce natural gas processing costs. This project will develop a novel hollow fiber membrane for carbon dioxide removal from natural gas streams. The membrane will be contaminant resistant and will exhibit high selectivity for carbon dioxide removal. Phase I established the technical and economic feasibility of forming novel, composite hollow-fiber membranes for natural gas sweetening. The membranes were shown to be capable of selective CO2 permeation over methane. In Phase II, the membrane performance will be optimized, a pilot scale membrane module will be constructed and tested, and a commercial-scale hollow fiber membrane module will be developed. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The new membrane technology should enable cost effective removal of carbon dioxide from low grade natural gas streams. The technology also should enable efficient CO2 separation in tertiary oil recovery applications.