Helium Recovery through Inorganic Membranes Incorporated with a Nitrogen Rejection Unit

Abstract

Helium recovery and purification from a natural gas process is increasingly being investigated globally to address rising market demand, as traditional helium sources become depleted. Here, process simulations of two types of inorganic membranes were undertaken in Aspen HYSYS to investigate the possibility of recovering and purifying helium from the Nitrogen Rejection Unit (NRU) offgas close to the NRU's operating temperature. The two membranes were a cobalt-silica membrane that has He/N2 selectivity through molecular sieving and a zeolite membrane that has N2/He selectivity at low temperatures, because of surface diffusion. Both membranes were able to achieve the desired He recovery and pur..