Natural Gas Processing with Membranes:  An Overview

Every year, the world uses close to 100 trillion scf (standard cubic feet) of natural gas. All of this gas requires treatment before it enters the pipeline, making natural gas processing by far the largest market for industrial gas separation processes and equipment. Of this huge market, membranes have less than a 5% share, but this is changing; membrane-based removal of natural gas contaminants is growing faster than any other segment of the membrane gas separation business. This paper gives an overview of the membrane technology in current use for natural gas treatment and outlines the future prospects.