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August
2019
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HYDROCARBON
ENGINEERING
N
itrogen is a colourless, odourless,
non-flammable gas, abundantly present in the
Earth’s atmosphere. With its inert and unique
properties, nitrogen is ideally suited in a
myriad of applications ranging from the food and
medical industries, to semiconductors, to oil and gas.
In any process plant, nitrogen forms a key
component of the utilities section, which is mainly used
for inerting and purging activities. Since nitrogen
constitutes 78% of air by volume it is easy to generate,
using air as the only raw material for the process. To
generate nitrogen there are various forms of
technologies available in the industry, including air
separation units, membrane, and pressure swing
adsorption (PSA). This article will look at how nitrogen
generation from membrane technology, and its
application, has helped revolutionise the energy
dominance of the US in LNG markets.
The US and LNG
Continuous developments in horizontal drilling and
hydraulic fracturing has made the once barren shale
plays in the US commercially economical to produce.
The US began exporting LNG from the lower 48 states
M. Sirajuddin, Gas Land Inc., USA,
outlines how nitrogen generation
from membrane technology plays a key role in the LNG industry.