| 초록 |
In this study, a new approach was suggested to evaluate various membrane configurations based on economic profitability such as Return on Investment (ROI). For this, hollow fiber membrane separation system with a counter-current flow pattern was modeled to reduce the concentrations of CO2 in the natural gas up to US pipeline specification(i.e. xCO2)≤2mol%). For a case study, natural gas from west Australia gas reservoir was applied to the model that contains a mixture of CO2/CH4/C2H6/C3H8 and 17mol% CO2. Four different configurations with either single or multiple stages of membrane separation were compared, and the results showed that a double stage configuration with a retentate stream in the first membrane entering the second membrane was the most attractive in terms of ROI. Furthermore, this study provides a systematic guideline for the optimization of membrane configurations to maximize ROI depending on methane recovery, meeting product specification such as CO2 concentration. |
