How It Works
Vaperma Siftek™ membrane enables efficient removal of water. When installed around a glycol dehydration facility, the membrane unit removes steam from the still column vent gas with no hydrocarbon emissions. The high flux of water permeating the membrane compared to methane and hydrocarbons is attributed to the higher adsorption and diffusion of water molecules across the dense layer of Siftek™ hollow fibres. The driving force is the ratio of the water vapour partial pressure in the feed and that in the gaseous permeate. H2O permeates relatively faster than CH4 and the other gases. Air contaminants, such as BTX, do not permeate the membrane.
The water permeate stream can be safely discarded as a pure gaseous or liquid effluent. The end-product containing methane and hydrocarbon gases is then compressed and recycled towards the main feed line or can be used as a dry fuel gas for the reboiler of the glycol stripping column.
