Nitrogen, rejection unit

Cmde helium (containing 50—70% helium, associated hydrogen and neon, 1—3% methane, and the balance nitrogen) can easily be obtained by minor enhancements to the nitrogen rejection unit, particularly with natural gases containing 0.5% or more helium. For example, by operating the double-column condenser in a partial condensation mode, a stream of uncondensed vapor at about 50% helium concentration can be obtained. This cmde helium stream can be fed directly to helium purification and Hquefaction units. 

Gas emerges from each expander cooled to -61°C (-77°F). Additional heat exchangers lower the temperature to -84°C (-120°F), at which point all the LNG is removed for delivery. Residue gas, now under reduced pressure, is passed along to the nitrogen rejection unit (NRU) where inert nitrogen is separated and vented into the atmosphere. Helium is also recovered in the NRU. The remaining residue gas is 90% methane. 

This unit is part of a gas plant, which prepares raw natural gas for sale to a pipeline. The front end of the gas plant has already removed the natural gas liquids from the gas. It remains for the rejection unit to remove nitrogen and also recover helium, a valuable by-product. Flow diagrams for the unit are included in a paper by Scott Troutmann, of Air Products and Chemicals, and Kim Janzen, of Pioneer Natural Resources. The unit uses two stripping columns. You can produce a side stream from the first stripping column that contains about 50 mol% nitrogen. This will be used to fuel the gas turbines, which drive the compressors. 

The membrane selectively rejects oxygen and nitrogen. The field test showed a selectivity for chlorine over nitrogen of about ten. That this is so much lower than that obtained in the laboratory is attributed to concentration polarisation. Increasing the rate of flow through the module can alleviate this. At the same time, chlorine recovery can be maintained by adding modules in series. This is precisely what would be done in a commercial unit, and so one can reasonably expect better results in full-scale operation. 

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