Membrane-Based Ammonia Purge Gas Recovery Units - A Fresh Look at an Established Technology
Since Air Products’ first commercialised large-scale PRISM® membrane unit for ammonia purge in 1979, hundreds of these systems, built by Air Products, have led to great value and reduced CO2 emissions for ammonia plant customers.
Legacy grey hydrogen supply is rapidly being replaced with blue and green hydrogen to support sustainability and decarbonisation efforts. The transition to low (or no) carbon hydrogen has not been without consequence, as hydrogen prices have been on the rise.
With increasing hydrogen prices impacting the cost to produce ammonia, producers are reexamining hydrogen recovery technology. Air Products Membrane Solutions has been helping steam methane reformer (SMR) based ammonia plants recover hydrogen since the 1980s with membrane-based purge gas hydrogen recovery units (PGRUs). In total, 10 - 20 million t of hydrogen have been recovered through these systems.
These PGRUs have consistently provided great value to Air Products' customers by recovering valuable hydrogen, saving natural gas, and avoiding millions of tons of CO2e emissions. Technology has continued to evolve since the introduction of PGRUs, and with the increased value of hydrogen, as well as increased emphasis on CO2 emissions reduction, operators of SMR-based ammonia plants would greatly benefit by ensuring their PGRUs are optimised for performance.
This white paper covers the fundamentals of membrane separation, PGRU options and operation, optimisation of legacy PGRUs, and the economic and GHG avoidance benefits for the ammonia industry.
Extrapolating performance over 85 ammonia purge gas recovery reference installations running worldwide that have been in operation for 15+ years, Air Products could help customers save up to 525 000 tpy of CO2e and recognise additional revenue of US$164 million by exploring optimisation efforts.
Download the white paper to learn more.