Jeffrey Alan Hopkins

Membrane/cryogenic hybrid processes for hydrogen purification

Abstract Membrane gas separation processes, while becoming more widespread, suffer from inherent limitations in their use. Combining membranes with other gas separation processes has been found to be an effective means of overcoming these limitations. A combination of hybrid process comprising a membrane unit with a cryogenic process has been found of value for producing hydrogen from a rather dilute source such as FCC off-gas. The success of the hybrid stems from the use of each component part of the process in its region of greatest efficiency. The judicious combination of processes leads to an overall process that is not only more efficient than either of the component processes, but more cost-effective as well.