A review of the membrane gas separation process to remove carbon dioxide from natural gas

Natural gas is composed of light paraffinic hydrocarbons, methane-decane, that methane is its major component. There are some other compositions of aromatics, polycyclic and olefin hydrocarbons, hydrates, sulfur compounds, carbon dioxide, nitrogen existing in natural gas extracted from the well; of them, the compound of sulfur, in particular H2S and CO2 is named sour gas and the process of removing these compositions called natural gas sweetening. Several technologies are used to remove sour gases from the natural gas flow extracted from wells; one of these technologies is chemical absorption by amine solvents that are commercially available. One another potential method is gas separation using membrane technology that has been more considered because of its low space occupancy and emissions. Both of mentioned technologies have different advantages and disadvantages. On the other hand, it is essential to identify feasibility of modern method for natural gas sweetening also comparing modern methods with common commercial methods technically and economically in Iran with enriched natural gas reserves. Hence, this study was conducted to evaluate studies on mentioned processes. This appraisal was done based on the current progresses in materials, membranes’ specifications, and modern systematic designs in scope of amine absorption process. For this purpose, the conducted studies on both processes in recent years have been reviewed