Hollow Fiber Sorbents for Desulfurization of Natural Gas

Pipeline natural gas is the primary fuel of choice for distributed fuel cell-based applications due to its welldeveloped infrastructure. The concentration of sulfur in odorized pipeline natural gas is about 30 ppm, with the acceptable level being <1 ppm for catalyst stability in such applications. Packed bed technology for desulfurization suffers from several disadvantages including high pressure drop and slow regeneration rates that require large unit sizes. This paper describes a new sorption platform utilizing hollow fibers with polymer "binder", impregnated with high loadings of sulfur selective zeolite sorbent "fillers". Temperature Swing Adsorption (TSA)can be utilized to thermally cycle the sorbents between sorption and regeneration cycles. A simplified flow pattern minimizes pressure drop, while a porous core morphology maximizes sorption efficiencies and high surface area to volume ratio structures can enable smaller bed sizes. This new technology represents a fusion of membrane science and adsorption technology.