A direct contact condenser for a steam turbine having an exhaust steam flow hood and a condenser connected to the hood. The condenser includes a downward flow condensing cell having a first liquid distribution assembly a first heat exchange media disposed below the first liquid distribution assembly. The condenser also includes an upward steam flow cooling cell and a second liquid distribution assembly along with a second heat exchange media disposed below the second liquid distribution assembly.

The invention is an improved method of making an improved carbon molecular sieve (CMS) membrane in which a precursor polymer (e.g., polyimide) is pyrolyzed at a pyrolysis temperature to form a CMS membrane that is cooled to ambient temperature (about 40° C. or 30° C. to about 20° C.). The CMS membrane is then reheated to a reheating temperature of at least 250° C. to 400° C. to form the improved CMS membrane. The CMS have a novel microstructure as determined by Raman spectroscopy. The improved CMS membranes have shown an improved combination of selectivity and permeance as well as stability for separating light hydrocarbon gas molecules such as C.sub.1 to C.sub.6 hydrocarbon gases (e.g., methane, ethane, propane, ethylene, propylene, butane, butylene).

An adsorption storage tank for a natural gas includes a pressurizable tank disposed on a vehicle to contain the natural gas. A natural gas adsorbent is disposed in the tank. The natural gas is a mixture of constituents having a constituent statistical distribution of molecule lengths and kinetic diameters. The adsorbent has a pore size statistical distribution of pore sizes to adsorb and desorb the mixture of constituents.

A membrane including a polymer substrate having pore channels and a metal-organic framework disposed on the polymer substrate. Methods of producing the membrane are described. Methods of separating gases using the membrane are also provided.

A method of obtaining helium from a helium-containing feed gas. Helium-containing feed gas is fed to a prepurifying unit that uses a pressure swing adsorption process to remove undesirable components from the helium-containing feed gas and obtain a prepurified feed gas. The prepurified feed gas is fed to a membrane unit connected downstream of the prepurifying unit and that has at least one membrane more readily permeable to helium than to at least one further component present in the prepurified feed gas. A pressurized low-helium retentate stream that has not passed through the membrane is fed to the prepurifying unit. The pressurized low-helium retentate is used to displace helium-rich gas from an adsorber that is to be regenerated into an already regenerated adsorber.

The present invention discloses novel porous polymeric compositions comprising random copolymers of amides, imides, ureas, and carbamic-anhydrides, useful for the synthesis of monolithic bimodal microporous/macroporous carbon aerogels. It also discloses methods for producing said microporous/macroporous carbon aerogels by the reaction of a polyisocyanate compound and a polycarboxylic acid compound, followed by pyrolytic carbonization, and by reactive etching with CO.sub.2 at elevated temperatures. Also disclosed are methods for using the microporous/macroporous carbon aerogels in the selective capture and sequestration of carbon dioxide.

An adsorbent separates methanol and other alcohols from gas and liquid oxygenates and hydrocarbon streams with a low silica faujasite (LSX) in a mono-, bi, or tri-cation alkali and/or alkaline-earth metal forms. The LSX has silicon to aluminum ratio from about 0.9 to about 1.15 and an ion exchange degree for each alkali or alkaline-earth metal in the range of about 10 to about 99.9% equiv. The gas streams for treatment include natural gas, individual hydrocarbons, or vaporized alkyl esters of carboxylic acids, or methyl tert-alkyl ethers and their mixtures with hydrocarbons. The liquid streams include liquefied natural gas (LNG), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), natural gas liquid (NGL), individual hydrocarbons C.sub.3-C.sub.5, and monomers, alkyl esters of carboxylic acids including methyl acetate, methyl, ethyl, butyl acrylates and methacrylate, methyl tert-alkyl ethers including methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and methyl tert-amyl ether (TAME). The adsorbent is especially suited for temperature swing or pressure swing adsorption processes.

Methods for purifying a hydrogen gas stream are provided that can include: introducing the hydrogen gas stream into the hydrogen pumping cell, and collecting a purified hydrogen gas from the hydrogen pumping cell. The hydrogen gas stream can include hydrogen sulfide in an amount of about 10 ppm to about 1,000 ppm, and can have a relative humidity of about 0.1% or more at the operational temperature and pressure of the hydrogen pumping cell.

The present invention provides for a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process for the substantial removal of H.sub.2O and CO.sub.2 from a synthesis gas to obtain a multicomponent product gas substantially free of H.sub.2O and CO.sub.2 with high recovery of the product gas. Further, the present invention provides an integrated process that achieves sufficiently high H.sub.2 and CO recoveries such that compression and recycling of the syngas purification PSA tailgas is not necessary to be economically advantageous compared to the conventional processes.

Disclosed are metal organic frameworks (MOFs) for adsorbing guest species, methods for the separation of gases using the MOFs, and systems comprising the MOFs. The MOFs comprise a plurality of secondary building units (SBUs), each SBU comprising a repeating unit of one metal cation connected to another metal cation via a first moiety of an organic linker; a layer of connected adjacent SBUs in which a second moiety of the linker in a first SBU is connected to a metal cation of an adjacent SBU, and wherein adjacent layers are connected to each other via linker-to-linker bonding interactions