CO2 Capture from Natural Gas using Membrane Separation System: Process Simulation, Parametric Analysis and Joule Thompson Effect

Membrane gas separation has emerged as an alternative of other available technologies (such as absorption and cryogenic separation) for CO2 capture from natural gas. In this paper, mathematical model for cross flow membrane separation has been proposed to be incorporated with ASPEN HYSYS as user defined unit operation in order to optimize the membrane system for CH4/CO2 separation. The proposed models were validated with experimental data, where the simulated data exhibited good agreement with the experimental results. Parameter sensitivities were studied by changing the operating conditions and membrane properties. Additionally, different configurations have been investigated including single stage (with and without recycle) and double stage membrane systems (with and without permeate and retentate recycle). Moreover, Joule Thompson (JT) expansion effect has been analyzed for the gas passing across the membrane systems.