Integrated cryogenic system for CO2 separation and LNG production from landfill gas

Abstract

An integrated cryogenic system to separate carbon dioxide (CO2) and produce LNG from landfill gas is investigated and designed. The main objective of this design is to eliminate the requirement of a standard CO 2 removal process in the liquefaction system such distillation or (temperature or pressure) swing adsorption, and to directly separate carbon dioxide as frost at the liquefying channel of methane. Two identical sets of heat exchangers are installed in parallel and switched alternatively with a time period so that one is in separation-liquefaction mode while the other is in CO2 clean-up mode. A thermal regeneration scheme is presented for the purpose of saving energy and avoiding the stoppage of LNG production followed by the flow switching. The switching period is determined from results of a combined heat and mass transfer analysis on the CO2 freeze-out process. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.