Abstract Temperature swing adsorption is currently one of the methods used for the dehydration of natural gas; however, several operating problems including high operating cost, pollution, low selectivity, and the thermal degradation of adsorbents need to be addressed. In this work, pressure swing adsorption was investigated for the dehydration of natural gas using a cost effective biosorbent. Oat hulls, a byproduct from the agricultural industry, were used as a representative of lignocellulose materials for the first time to develop the biosorbent for the pressure swing adsorption process. The morphology, surface functional groups, and thermal stability of the biosorbent were investigated by FE-SEM, XPS and TGA. The effects of the key operating parameters including temperature, pressure, gas flow rate, feed concentration, and biosorbent particle size on the process were analyzed by a full factorial experimental design. The results demonstrated a higher water adsorption capacity at room temperature and a higher selectivity towards methane than those of commercial adsorbents. Furthermore, the biosorbent showed a stable performance after being used for fifty adsorption-desorption cycles. Though the biosorbent was regenerated at room temperature, the TGA results showed that biosorbent was stable at temperatures up to 210 °C. Additionally, the analysis of adsorption and desorption rates revealed that a cyclic adsorption-desorption process is possible. Adsorption equilibrium and kinetics were investigated, and the experimental equilibrium data was analyzed by the Anderson, and Toth isotherm models, and kinetic data by the Thomas model. The monolayer adsorption capacity, surface affinity and mass transfer coefficients were determined. The results indicate that this high-performance and environmental friendly process has potential for natural gas dehydration industry.

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PSA工艺天然气脱水用燕麦壳生物吸附剂的特性

摘要 变温吸附是目前用于天然气脱水的方法之一；然而，需要解决几个操作问题，包括操作成本高、污染、选择性低和吸附剂的热降解。在这项工作中，使用具有成本效益的生物吸附剂研究了变压吸附用于天然气脱水。燕麦壳是农业副产品，首次被用作木质纤维素材料的代表，以开发用于变压吸附工艺的生物吸附剂。通过FE-SEM、XPS和TGA研究了生物吸附剂的形貌、表面官能团和热稳定性。关键操作参数的影响，包括温度、压力、气体流速、进料浓度、通过全因子实验设计分析了该过程中的生物吸附剂粒径和生物吸附剂粒径。结果表明，与商业吸附剂相比，在室温下具有更高的吸水能力和对甲烷的更高选择性。此外，该生物吸附剂在使用 50 次吸附-解吸循环后表现出稳定的性能。虽然生物吸附剂在室温下再生，但 TGA 结果表明生物吸附剂在高达 210 °C 的温度下是稳定的。此外，吸附和解吸速率的分析表明，循环吸附-解吸过程是可能的。研究了吸附平衡和动力学，实验平衡数据采用 Anderson 和 Toth 等温线模型分析，动力学数据采用 Thomas 模型分析。单层吸附能力，确定了表面亲和力和传质系数。结果表明，这种高性能、环保的工艺具有天然气脱水工业的潜力。