Systems and methods for retrieving equipment from a wellbore of a subterranean well include an overshot housing having a central axis. The overshot housing is a tubular shaped member with a housing bore. An internal sleeve is located within the overshot housing. The internal sleeve is a tubular shaped member with a sleeve bore. The internal sleeve is axially moveable within the overshot housing. A catching net is located radially outward of the internal sleeve, within the overshot housing. The catching net moveable between a contracted position and an extended position. The catching net has a shorter axial length and a wider radial width in the contracted position than in the extended position. An anchoring assembly is located at a downhole end of the catching net. The anchoring assembly is actuable to releasably secure the downhole end of the catching net to the equipment.

A process for recovering a noncondensable gas from a gaseous mixture, the method comprising the steps of: supplying a gaseous mixture comprising a noncondensable component; supplying a sweep gas comprising a condensable component; introducing the gaseous mixture and the sweep gas to a swept membrane stage to obtain a retentate stream and a mixed permeate stream, the mixed permeate stream comprising at least a portion of the condensable component and at least a portion of the noncondensable component; introducing the mixed permeate stream to a vapor-liquid separator and subjecting the mixed permeate stream to thermodynamic conditions sufficient to condense most of the condensable component into a liquid, and obtain a raw noncondensable component stream, wherein the raw noncondensable component stream is enriched in the noncondensable component; and introducing the raw noncondensable component to a concentration unit to obtain a noncondensable component product stream enriched in the noncondensable component.

A low cost, high selectivity asymmetric polyimide/polyethersulfone (PES) blend hollow fiber membrane, a method of making the membrane and its use for a variety of liquid, gas, and vapor separations such as deep desulfurization of gasoline and diesel fuels, ethanol/water separations, pervaporation dehydration of aqueous/organic mixtures, CO.sub.2/CH.sub.4, CO.sub.2/N.sub.2, H.sub.2/CH.sub.4, He/CH.sub.4, O.sub.2/N.sub.2, H.sub.2S/CH.sub.4, olefin/paraffin, iso/normal paraffins separations, and other light gas mixture separations. The polyimide/PES blend hollow fiber membrane is fabricated from a blend of a polyimide polymer and PES and showed surprisingly unique gas separation property with higher selectivities than either the polyimide hollow fiber membrane without PES polymer or the PES hollow fiber membrane without PES polymer for gas separations such as for H.sub.2/CH.sub.4, He/CH.sub.4, H.sub.2S/CH.sub.4, CO.sub.2/CH.sub.4 separations.

Disclosed herein is a gas separation membrane comprising a furan-based polymer, an apparatus comprising the gas separation membrane, and a process for separating a mixture of gases using said gas separation membrane. The process comprises contacting one side of a gas separation membrane comprising a furan-based polymer with a mixture of gases having different gas permeances, whereby at least one gas from the mixture of gases permeates preferentially across the gas separation membrane, thereby separating the at least one gas from the mixture of gases.

A method of checking the storage and the radioactive activity of a radioactive gas adsorbed by a porous material having scintillation properties, which comprises: (a) putting the porous material in place in an enclosure, (b) performing circulation of the radioactive gas in the enclosure, (c) monitoring the adsorption of the radioactive gas by monitoring the scintillation of the porous material, up to an adsorption level, (d) interrupting the radioactive gas circulation in the enclosure when the adsorption level is attained, (e) placing the enclosure under a vacuum, and (f) monitoring the radioactive activity of the radioactive gas adsorbed by the porous material at the end of step (c) by monitoring the scintillation of the porous material. The porous material comprises metal organic frameworks formed of inorganic sub-units constituted by Zn.sub.4O and an organic ligand.

Recovering helium from a gaseous stream includes contacting an acid gas removal membrane with a gaseous stream to yield a permeate stream and a residual stream, removing a majority of the acid gas from the residual stream to yield a first acid gas stream and a helium depleted clean gas stream, removing a majority of the acid gas from the permeate stream to yield a second acid gas stream and a helium rich stream, and removing helium from the helium rich stream to yield a helium product stream and a helium depleted stream. A helium removal system for removing helium from a gaseous stream including hydrocarbon gas, acid gas, and helium includes a first processing zone including a first acid gas removal unit, a second processing zone including a second acid gas removal unit, a third processing zone, and a helium purification unit.

An adsorption apparatus and associated method for capturing an target gaseous adsorbate from an atmospheric air based gaseous feed stream. The adsorption apparatus comprises: a housing enclosing at least one adsorption element for adsorbing the target gaseous adsorbate, the at least one adsorption element comprising at least one substrate coated with an adsorptive composite coating that comprises at least 50 wt % metal organic framework and at least one binder, the housing having an inlet through which the gaseous feed stream can flow to the adsorption element and an outlet through which gas can flow out from the housing; and a desorption arrangement in contact with and/or surrounding the at least one adsorption element, the desorption arrangement being selectively operable between (i) a deactivated state, and (ii) an activated state in which the arrangement is configured to heat, apply a reduced pressure or a combination thereof to the adsorptive composite coating to desorb at least a portion of the adsorbed target gaseous adsorbate from the adsorptive composite coating.

A gas separation membrane for selective separation of hydrogen and helium from gas mixtures containing carbon dioxide includes a porous support layer, an aromatic polyamide layer on the porous support layer, and a coating including a glassy polymer formed on the aromatic polyamide layer. A glass transition temperature of the glassy polymer is greater than 50° C. The gas separation membrane may be formed by contacting a solution including the glassy polymer with an aromatic polyamide layer of a composite membrane and drying the solution to form a coating of the glassy polymer on the aromatic polyamide layer. Separating hydrogen or helium from a gas stream including carbon dioxide includes contacting a gas feed stream including carbon dioxide with the gas separation membrane to yield a permeate stream having a concentration of helium or hydrogen that exceeds the concentration of helium or hydrogen, respectively, in the gas feed stream.

Methods and materials for the selective capture and storage of preselected materials from gas streams using metal organic framework (MOF) materials are described. In various embodiments preselected target material gases could include noble gasses such as Kr, Xe, Rn, Arultramicro to mesopore frameworks for selective separation and storage of noble gases, other gasses such as I.sub.2 or other particular isotopes either naturally occurring or man-made, or another preselected gas capture material such as a target material for legal, regulatory or treaty compliance, or a preselected material from a particular process such as a cleaning or etching agent from semiconducting or microelectronic manufacture, or a portion of an anesthetic gas such as nitrous oxide, isoflurane, sevoflurane or a fluorinated ethers.

A hydrogen feed stream comprising oxygen and one or more impurities selected from the group consisting of nitrogen, argon, methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and water, is purified by first removing oxygen using a copper oxide and/or manganese oxide getter, then using a cryogenic temperature swing adsorption (CTSA) process with high overall recovery of hydrogen. The oxygen getter prevents an explosive mixture of hydrogen and oxygen from occurring in the CTSA during regeneration.