Efficient acid gas removal using membrane systems—Part 1

With increasing demand for more energy, stranded natural gas reserves that would have been marginal or unprofitable years ago are now being developed. The main challenge in today’s natural gas treating plants is to remove high concentrations of carbon dioxide (and sometimes sulfur components) from sour gases produced from these remote or offshore stranded gas fields to meet stringent export specifications. A number of methods are available for the removal of acid gases. However, membrane-based systems offer some clear advantages and opportunities for the efficient removal of high fractions of acid gases from these fields. The authors focus on the use of membrane technologies to make a large