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US 5,961,692 AGranted
System and method of improving performance of a gas membrane dehydrator
AssigneeHowell Laboratories, Inc.
InventorD. Stephen Collins
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An uncontrollable dehydrator where the uncontrollable discharge is augmented with a purge gas to increase the capacity of the dehydrator to achieve a target flow rate and dew point.
Claims10
A method for improving the capacity of an uncontrollable discharge shell and tube membrane dehydrator comprising:
- flowing a feed stream into the tube side of the dehydrator, the feed stream comprising a gas containing a permeate to be removed to lower the dew point of the gas to a target dew point;
- flowing the feed stream in the range of from 12.27% by volume to 36.9% by volume through the walls of the tube(s) into the shell side, said flow through the walls of the tubes comprising an uncontrollable purge stream;
- discharging the gas from the dehydrator at a target dew point;
- introducing a controlled purge stream into the shell side to augment the uncontrollable purge stream, said controlled purge stream having a dew point lower than that of the feed stream;
- and
- increasing the flow rate of the feed stream flowing through the dehydrator while maintaining the dew point of the gas discharged from the dehydrator at the target dew point.
3 more elements
A system for improving the capacity of an uncontrollable discharge shell and tube membrane dehydrator comprising:
- means for flowing a feed stream into the tube side of the dehydrator, the feed stream comprising a gas containing a permeate to be removed to lower the dew point of the gas to a target dew point;
- means for flowing the feed stream in the range from 12.27% by volume to 36.9% bv volume through the walls of the tube(s) into the shell side, said flow through the walls of the tubes comprising an uncontrollable purge stream;
- means for discharging the gas from the dehydrator at a target dew point;
- means for introducing a controlled purge stream into the shell side to augment the uncontrollable purge stream, said controllable purge stream having a dew point lower than that of the feed stream whereby the flow rate of the gas flowing through the dehydrator is increased while the dew point of the gas discharge from the dehydrator is maintained at the target dew point.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.