Trabajo presentado en el 24 WGC. Disponible en CD en la biblioteca. Solicite este trabajo por email a biblio@iapg.org.ar

In the 30 years since membrane technology was first applied to the natural gas industry, membranes have become the industry standard for remote, variable, and difficult sour gas treatment. The massive progress in materials science, particularly in the field of polymer research, has lead to increasingly effective membrane systems for upstream treatment of sour gas. These new membrane technologies are more chemically resistant and have greater flow capacity, while maintaining the high separation coefficients (selectivity) that have proven them to be so effective over the years. These improvements, coupled with their comparatively lower capitol operation and life cycle costs have made membranes the technology of choice for new installations as well as expansion projects. Due to their modular design and effectiveness in a wide variety of natural gas production environments they are becoming an increasingly attractive choice to boost throughput of older amine plants. This paper will present some of the specific improvements in membrane technology in the last few years. Data from several recent field demonstrations will be analyzed and compared. The economics of current sour gas treatment technologies with regard to a variety of common processing conditions will also be explored. Lastly, the ecological ramifications of both heritage and advancing natural gas separation technologies will be discussed.