The
oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) is a direct path for converting
methane into ethene (ethylene), which is one of the most important
building blocks for the chemical industry. Carbon dioxide is generated
as a byproduct in the reactor and must be separated in order to produce
the pure olefin. This step is commonly achieved by amine scrubbing,
in which a significant amount of energy is consumed for regenerating
the amine. In this contribution, a hybrid system employing gas separation
membranes and absorption is modeled and simulated in order to carry
out preliminary engineering design and economic evaluations to assess
the feasibility of applying this process on industrial scale. It is
demonstrated that the hybrid process offers economic advantage when
compared to the standalone absorption process when carbon dioxide
is used as diluent in the OCM reactor.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.