Process for recovering hydrogen from a multi-component gas stream
AssigneeAir Products and Chemicals, Inc.
InventorsSteven R. Auvil, Rakesh Agrawal
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention involves an efficient process for recovering hydrogen from a gas mixture containing hydrogen and at least one other component. Separation is effected by integrating a semi-permeable membrane based unit with a non-membrane type separation unit.
Claims20
A process for removing hydrogen from a feed gas mixture comprising hydrogen and at least one other component, said process comprising providing an additional degree of freedom for adjusting the process parameters by:
- (a) treating said feed gas mixture in a non-membrane separation unit to produce a hydrogen-enriched stream and a hydrogen-depleted stream;
- (b) withdrawing at last a portion of the hydrogen-enriched stream from the non-membrane separation unit;
- (c) feeding said portion of said hydrogen-enriched stream to a membrane separation unit, wherein said hydrogen-enriched stream is separated to form a hydrogen-rich stream and a hydrogen-lean stream;
- (d) recycling the hydrogen-lean stream to the non-membrane separation unit for further treatment and separation to produce a hydrogen-depleted stream;
- and
- (e) recovering the hydrogen-rich stream from the membrane separation unit.
A process for recovering hydrogen from a feed gas mixture comprising hydrogen and at least one other component, said process comprising providing an additional degree of freedom for adjusting the process parameters by:
- (a) passing said feed gas mixture through a first membrane separation unit to form a first hydrogen-rich stream and a first hydrogen-lean stream;
- (b) treating said hydrogen-lean stream in a non-membrane separation unit to produce a hydrogen-enriched stream and a hydrogen-depleted stream;
- (c) withdrawing at least a portion of the hydrogen-enriched stream from the non-membrane separation unit;
- (d) feeding said portion of said hydrogen-enriched stream to a second membrane unit wherein said hydrogen-enriched stream is separated to form a second hydrogen-rich stream and a second hydrogen-lean stream;
- (e) recycling the second hydrogen-lean stream to the non-membrane separation unit for further treatment and separation to produce a hydrogen-depleted stream;
- and
- (f) recovering both hydrogen-rich streams.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.