Preparation of an Experimental Setup for Separation of Hydrogen Sulfide and Carbon Dioxide from Methane by Using Membrane Contactor

In this work, an experimental setup was designed and prepared in order to study the effects of various parameters on membrane contactor efficiency in separation of H2S and CO2 from natural gas. Polyethersulfone (PES) membrane was prepared and applied in this study for separation of H2S and CO2 form CH4. The methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) aqueous solution was used as the liquid phase absorber. The prepared membrane structure was investigated by using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and it showed that the membrane has porous structure. The results obtained from membrane contactor setup indicated that in constant liquid flow rate the separation efficiency increased by increasing of gas flow rate, and in constant gas flow rate the liquid flow rate enhanced the separation factor. Also, results revealed that the operation temperature enhancement led to better separation of H2S and CO2 form CH4-H2S-CO2 mixture.