Modeling Study of Propane/Propylene Membrane Separation Using CFD Method

Abstract

Based on the wide applications of olefins in industries, especially in petrochemical industries which are among the major income sources, the separation of olefins from paraffin with membrane processes has been considered. Therefore, for the investigation of the performance of membrane processes, modeling can be used as a suitable and low-cost method to estimate and predict the performance of these processes. In this research, membrane separation of propane/propylene is investigated, and then the performance of one-step membrane unit and operational parameters such as temperature, pressure, membrane surface, and stage cut for current and cocurrent flow patterns are analyzed using computational fluid dynamic method which according to the obtained results the membrane process has high potential for this kind of separation. In all parameters investigation, the flow direction shows sensible effect, and in all of the parameters, countercurrent flow has more positive effect in comparison with cocurrent condition.