Performance and Stability of Selected Polymeric Membrane Materials for Use in High-H2S and Humid Natural Gas Feeds

Abstract

Evaluations on the separation performance of Pebax MH1657, Polyactive 1500, PDMS, and Matrimid/P84 polymer dense film samples in high H₂S and humid natural gas conditions were conducted. The characterization of the separation performance of all materials has been performed for sour feed gas at high H₂S content, including higher hydrocarbons and humidity levels of up to 80% RH up to a feed pressure of 50 bar. It can be concluded that the performance and the stability of both rubbery materials Pebax MH1657 and Polyactive 1500 are promising. The improvement in gas-pair selectivities results from both the combination of H₂S plasticization and the competitive sorption between gases.