CFD study on the effects of different temperatures and feed velocities for CO2, CH4, and C2H4 adsorption using 5A molecular sieve

Abstract

The removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) from natural gas is a practical measure in dealing with problems such as CO2 emissions into the atmosphere and reducing the cost of gas processing operations. Adsorption is a promising technology currently used, specifically pressure swing adsorption (PSA) method. In this paper, the adsorption column packed with 5A molecular sieve was simulated using COMSOL Multiphysics software for the separation of CO2 from natural gas components, which are methane (CH4) and ethylene (C2FLi). The effects of different temperatures on adsorption time were investigated and the optimum adsorption time was determined by the purity of CH4 and C2H4 at the column outlet. This study will be beneficial for optimising the design and process configuration of PSA.