Enhanced hydrogen recovery utilizing gas separation membranes integrated with pressure swing adsorption unit and/or cryogenic separation system

A system for recovering hydrogen, the system comprising:

• a flow line for feeding a gas stream, comprising hydrogen and additional gases, to a pressure swing adsorption system;
• a flow line for feeding a membrane permeate stream comprising hydrogen to the pressure swing adsorption system;
• the pressure swing adsorption system, configured for separating a portion of the hydrogen from the additional gases to recover a hydrogen product stream and a pressure swing adsorption tail gas stream comprising unseparated hydrogen and the additional gases;
• a flow line for feeding the pressure swing adsorption tail gas stream to a membrane separation unit;
• the membrane separation unit, configured for separating hydrogen from the additional gases and to recover (i) the membrane permeate stream comprising hydrogen fed to the pressure swing adsorption system and (ii) a membrane tail gas stream comprising the additional gases;
• a refrigeration/separation system configured for cooling the pressure swing adsorption tail gas stream to a temperature in the range of −60° C. to −98° C. to partially condense and flash separate the pressure swing adsorption tail gas stream to recover a PSA tail gas condensate stream and a PSA tail gas vapor stream, and configured to heat the pressure swing adsorption tail gas stream to a temperature in a range of 35° C. to 45° C. prior to feeding to the membrane separation unit;
• a flow line for feeding the PSA tail gas vapor stream as the pressure swing adsorption tail gas stream fed to the membrane separation unit.