(121d) An Update on the Pilot and Field Trials of a Membrane to Separate Light Olefins and Paraffins

The separation of light olefins from paraffins is one of the most energy intensive separations in the chemical processing industries.. The state of the art separation method is distillation, a technology that has remained unchanged over decades. Membranes hold the promise of a more modular, energy efficient and capital efficient method for separation. However, they have historically been hampered by low performance and stability.

Compact Membrane Systems has developed a novel membrane material using a silver embedded fluoropolymer material to transport olefins across the membrane. This material has demonstrated over 2 years of longevity in laboratory operation and has shown high selectivity and permeance under realistic operating conditions.

During the past year, CMS has been operating a pilot utilizing this membrane material at the Delaware City Refining Company. We will share the latest results from that pilot operation as well as the update on the scale-up of our membrane modules. The Delaware City pilot is operating on a low concentration olefin stream (i.e., ~10-15% propylene-balance propane in the feed) with the goal of achieving an HD5 quality propane product and an enriched propylene stream. In addition, CMS has entered into a project with Dow Chemical through RAPID, a manufacturing institute funded by the Department of Energy. The goal of the work with Dow is to operate at the other end of the concentration spectrum where the feed is greater than 80% propylene and the target is an upgraded olefin-rich stream from the permeate. A pilot unit is installed in a Dow facility and we will share the latest results from our tests there.

CMS will also discuss initial results on laboratory testing of C₄ streams. This includes mixed gas separation of n-butane and 1-butene with permeances between 200-500 GPU and selectivities greater than 20. We will share results for a number of operating conditions and will highlight several exciting C₄ separation applications including those with isomer streams. In addition, longevity results for >20 days of C₄ operation will be shared demonstrating the stability of the membrane in realistic streams.