Chapter 16 - Hybrid Membranes for Carbon Dioxide Removal From High-Pressure Natural Gas

Abstract

Purification of raw natural gas (NG) is a major industrial application in gas processing. Efficient separation techniques are needed for carbon dioxide elimination from NG. Membrane technology is a new technology which is increasingly competing with conventional separation methods. NG processing by membrane is one of the most rapidly growing techniques because of the compactness, economic advantages, and higher energy efficiency. Some of the polymeric membranes, compared with inorganic membranes, have low efficiency for gas separation. However, polymeric membranes are widely used in gas separation because of low cost and the processing flexibility. Organic–inorganic hybrid membranes are favorable materials because they merge the advantages of inorganic and organic materials. Hybrid membranes have been lately expanded to modify the features of polymeric membranes in separation process and found an emerging research field because they have advantages of both polymeric and inorganic materials such as good selectivity and permeability, high hydrophilicity, high chemical and thermal resistance, and good mechanical stability. This chapter concentrates on the development of hybrid membranes for carbon dioxide removal from high-pressure NG, different types of hybrid membrane, hybrid membrane preparation, processing with different methods, and previous works in this field and future trends.