Review of membrane technology for methane recovery from mining operations. Information Circular/1988

Technical Report · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:6718906

Garcia, F; Cervik, J

The development of membranes for gas separation is reviewed, along with the theory of how they work, and their application to the separation of methane from air and associated problems. Methane-air mixtures are difficult to separate with membranes because the pertinent gas couples, O/sub 2/-N/sub 2/, O/sub 2/-CH/sub 4/, and N/sub 2/-CH/sub 4/, have poor-separation characteristics, as indicated by their separation factors of about 3 or less. Even if these separation factors were substantially higher, there is doubt that methane could be recovered economically from the low concentrations in mine ventilation exhaust (2 vol pct or less). The exhaust pressures are not sufficient for adequate separation. The power cost of compressing these mixtures would far exceed the value of the methane recovered. New discoveries could make separation of gob-hole methane-air mixtures practical. These mixtures have much higher concentrations of methane (from 30 to 100 vol pct); however, for safety reasons, treatment would be limited to gob gas with 60 vol pct CH/sub 4/ or more.

• Research Organization: Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh, PA (USA). Pittsburgh Research Center
• OSTI ID: 6718906
• Report Number(s): PB-88-240510/XAB; BM-IC-9174
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010500 -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Products & By-Products
03 NATURAL GAS
030900* -- Natural Gas-- Artificial Stimulation
Plowshare-- (-1989)
ALKANES
COAL MINES
COAL MINING
ENGINEERING
HYDROCARBONS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS RECOVERY
MEMBRANES
METHANE
MINES
MINING
MINING ENGINEERING
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PROCESSING
RECOVERY
SAFETY ENGINEERING
SEPARATION EQUIPMENT
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING