Composite Hollow Fiber Membrane for Natural Gas Treatment

U.S. production of natural gas is about 24 trillion scf/year; total worldwide production is about 100 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 for natural gas processing, due to 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 the cost of natural gas processing. This project will develop a hollow fiber membrane for carbon dioxide removal from natural gas streams. The membrane will be contaminant resistant and exhibit high selectivity for carbon dioxide removal. Phase I will establish the technical feasibility of forming a novel composite membrane capable of selective CO2 permeation over methane and will demonstrate membrane stability. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The new membrane technology should enable the cost effective removal of carbon dioxide from low grade natural gas streams. The technology also should enable efficient CO2 separation in the recovery of tertiary oil.