A system and method for removing nitrogen and producing a high pressure methane product stream and an NGL product stream from natural gas feed streams where at least 90%, and preferably at least 95%, of the ethane in the feed stream is recovered in the NGL product stream. The system and method of the invention are particularly suitable for use with feed streams in excess of 5 MMSCFD and up to 300 MMSCFD and containing around 5% to 80% nitrogen. The system and method preferably combine use of strategic heat exchange between various process streams with a high pressure rectifier tower and the ability to divert all or a portion of a nitrogen rejection unit feed stream to optionally bypass a nitrogen fractionation column to reduce capital costs and operating expenses.

A heat exchanger system includes a core-in-shell heat exchanger and a liquid/gas separator. The liquid/gas separator is configured to receive a liquid/gas mixture and to separate the gas from the liquid. The liquid/gas separator is connected to the core-in-shell heat exchanger via a first line for transmitting gas from the liquid/gas separator to a first region in the core-in-shell heat exchanger and connected to the core-in-shell heat exchanger via a second line for transmitting liquid from the liquid/gas separator to a second region of the core-in-shell heat exchanger.

A core-in-shell heat exchanger, a method of fabricating the core-in-shell heat exchanger, and a method of exchanging heat in a core-in-shell heat exchanger disposed on a slosh-inducing moving platform are described. The method of exchanging heat includes introducing a shell-side fluid into a shell of the core-in-shell heat exchanger and introducing a fluid to be cooled into each of one or more cores of the core-in-shell heat exchanger, the one or more cores being arranged along an axial length of the shell with a plurality of baffles disposed on either side of the one or more cores along the axial length of the shell to reduce slosh of the shell-side fluid. The method also includes draining excess shell-side fluid using a plurality of drains, at least two of the plurality of drains being disposed on opposite sides of one of the plurality of baffles.

A heat exchanger for indirectly exchanging heat between a first medium and a second medium, the heat exchanger having a easing enclosing an encased area for receiving the liquid phase of the first medium and at least one plate heat exchanger arranged in the encased area for receiving the first medium and the second medium. The plate heat exchanger is surrounded by the liquid phase of the first medium during operation. A collecting channel is located in the encased area in order to allow for discharge of part of the liquid phase of the first medium from the encased area.

A portion of feed air is expanded and cooled in front of a main heat exchanger, and is used as cold for precooling the remaining unexpanded feed air inside the main heat exchanger. A portion of the feed air precooled inside the main heat exchanger is removed to outside the main heat exchanger, expanded and cooled, and used as cold to cool the remaining unexpanded precooled feed air inside the main heat exchanger.

A multistage bath condenser-reboiler according to the present invention includes: a heat exchanger core composed of (i) a heat exchange section formed by adjacently stacking condensation passages and evaporation passages, and (ii) a liquid communication section formed from liquid communication passages provided on at least one side surface in the stacking height direction of the heat exchange section; and one or more stages of liquid reservoir sections formed on at least one side surface in the width direction of the heat exchanger core.

A system and method for neon recovery in a double column or triple column air separation unit is provided. The neon recovery system comprises a non-condensable stripping column configured to produce a liquid nitrogen-rich liquid column bottoms and a non-condensable gas containing overhead and one or more condensing units arranged to produce a crude neon vapor stream that contains greater than about 50% mole fraction of neon with the overall neon recovery exceeding 95%. In addition, there is minimal liquid nitrogen consumption and since much of the liquid nitrogen is recycled back to the lower pressure column of the air separation unit, there is minimal impact on the recovery of other products from the air separation unit.

A core-in-shell heat exchanger, a method of fabricating the core-in-shell heat exchanger, and a method of exchanging heat in a core-in-shell heat exchanger disposed on a slosh-inducing moving platform are described. The method of exchanging heat includes introducing a shell-side fluid into a shell of the core-in-shell heat exchanger and introducing a fluid to be cooled into each of one or more cores of the core-in-shell heat exchanger, the one or more cores being arranged along an axial length of the shell with a plurality of baffles disposed on either side of the one or more cores along the axial length of the shell to reduce slosh of the shell-side fluid. The method also includes draining excess shell-side fluid using a plurality of drains, at least two of the plurality of drains being disposed on opposite sides of one of the plurality of baffles.

Plate-fin heat exchanger with mitered distributor design for improved fluid flow distribution through the plate-fin heat exchanger resulting in improved heat exchanger efficiency. Sections of the distributor have different fin types that provide improved distribution of the fluid through the heat exchanger. The fin types for the different sections of the distributor are selected based on a friction factor parameter ratio and a j-factor parameter ratio for the different fin types.

In a process for the cryogenic separation of a feed mixture of at least carbon monoxide, hydrogen and methane, the feed mixture is separated in a methane wash column fed by a liquid methane stream at the top of the methane wash column to produce a gas enriched in hydrogen, a liquid stream from the bottom of the methane wash column is treated to produce a mixture of carbon monoxide and methane, the mixture of carbon monoxide and methane is separated in a separation column to produce a gas enriched in carbon monoxide and a liquid methane flow at least part of which forms a purge stream, the purge stream being varied to take account of load variations.