METHANE PURIFICATION - CASE STUDY

THE CUSTOMER PROBLEM

 The customer is an important manufacturer of industrial and rare gases.

 The customer needs to purify methane from a natural source for electronic
application.

 Feed composition (typical):

- N2: 0.6 % - CO2: 1000 ppm vol.
- Ethane: 6.0 % - Propane: 2 %
- Iso-Butane: 0.9 % - Methane: 90 %
- Oxygen: 800 ppm

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METHANE PURIFICATION - CASE STUDY

THE CLIENT’S GOALS

 Obtain a highly pure methane product.

 Find the best separation technology for this application with the best cost-
effectiveness.

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METHANE PURIFICATION - CASE STUDY

POLARIS SOLUTION

 The proposed system is based on two main

sections:
- a pretreatment section for the removal of CO2 (and
traces of H2O)
- a cryogenic distillation section for the separation
of other impurities

 In the pre-treatment section, water and carbon

dioxide are removed via adsorption on molecular
sieves in a system with double bed in parallel.
One of the bed is in service while the other one is
regenerated with waste hot gas after pure CH4
separation.
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METHANE PURIFICATION - CASE STUDY

POLARIS SOLUTION

 The cryogenic distillation section is composed by

two distillation columns. In the first one CH4 is
separated as top product and heavy impurities
are separated as bottom product. In the second
one, the pure CH4 is separated as bottom product
in liquid form, and gas nitrogen as well as other
light impurities are separated as top product.

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METHANE PURIFICATION - CASE STUDY

PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

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METHANE PURIFICATION - CASE STUDY

Plant Design Data

Methane feed: 15 Nm3/h
Outlet methane composition:
CH4: 99,9995 %
O2: < 0,5 ppm
H2O: < 1 ppm
N2: < 4 ppm
CO2: < 0,5 ppm
Other impurities: < 0,5 ppm

Main utilities consumption:

Liquid Nitrogen: 45 kg/h
Electric power: 5 kW

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METHANE PURIFICATION - CASE STUDY

POLARIS PLANT: FEATURES AND ADVANTAGES

 Distilled products with very high purity

 High efficiency

 Great flexibility and turn down ratio

 Easy and fully automatic operation

 Control systems developed directly from Polaris

 Skid mounted plants to minimize the on-site operation, improving the

convenience for the customer.
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METHANE PURIFICATION - CASE STUDY

CONCLUSIONS

 Polaris plant is an integrated system with different technologies for the

removal of different type of compounds.

 The regeneration of molecular sieves is studied to guarantee safe and

reliable conditions even in presence of very high flammable streams as

methane.

 When the client is interested in reaching very highly pure products, the

Polaris plant can improve the benefits and cost saving or value production.

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