The invention relates to a process for the combined production of hydrogen and carbon dioxide from a hydrocarbon mixture, in which the residual gas of a PSA H.sub.2 (12) is separated by permeation in order to reduce the hydrocarbon content thereof and the hydrocarbon-purified gas is separated at a low temperature to produce a carbon dioxide-rich liquid (22).

A method for producing liquid nitrogen using a residual gas stream derived from a flue gas of a power plant is provided. The residual gas stream is purified in a front-end purification unit to remove freezable components and then the purified stream is compressed. Following compression, the stream can be divided into a first portion and a second portion, wherein the first portion is cooled and sent to a distillation column, wherein oxygen and argon are separated, thereby leaving an essentially pure gaseous nitrogen stream. The gaseous nitrogen stream can then be liquefied using refrigeration provided by expanding the second portion of the purified stream. In a preferred embodiment, the second portion is expanded in two turbines, and the gaseous nitrogen is compressed in a cold nitrogen booster, which is powered by one of the two turbines. In an additional embodiment, after warming, the expanded second portion of the purified stream can be used to regenerate the front-end purification unit.

A process for separating carbon dioxide from a waste gas of a fluid catalytic cracking installation including converting at least a portion of the carbon monoxide of the waste gas into carbon dioxide to form a flow enriched in carbon dioxide, separating at least a portion of the flow enriched in carbon dioxide to form a gas enriched in carbon dioxide and depleted in nitrogen and a gas rich in nitrogen and depleted in carbon dioxide, and at least a portion of the gas enriched in carbon dioxide and depleted in nitrogen is separated by way of separation at a temperature of less than 0° C. to form a fluid rich in carbon dioxide and a fluid depleted in carbon dioxide and sending a gas containing at least 90% oxygen to combustion.

A process for the separation of nitrogen from a feed stream containing at least methane and nitrogen, with a methane content between 4 and 12% mol. consists of at least the following steps: separation of the feed stream by means of a rubbery-type membrane to produce a permeate enriched in methane at a pressure greater than 2 bara and a non-permeate which is a nitrogen-enriched residue gas at a pressure greater than 2 bara and processing of the high-pressure residue gas in a cryogenic separation unit to produce a methane rich liquid and a nitrogen-enriched gas wherein the pressure of the membrane permeate is controlled as a function of the nitrogen concentration in the nitrogen-enriched gas.

A single compressor is used to separately compress permeate from cascaded first and second gas separation membrane-based separation units and residue from a fourth gas separation membrane-based separation unit in order to avoid too high a CO2 partial pressure in the compressed permeate. After the permeates from the first and second stages are compressed, the compressed stream is fed to a third gas separation membrane-based separation unit.

A method to recover hydrocarbonfractions from refineries gas streams involves a pre-cooled heat refinery fuel gas stream mixed with a pre-cooled and expanded supply of natural gas stream in an inline mixer to condense and recover at least C.sub.3.sup.+ fractions upstream of a fractionator. The temperature of the gas stream entering the fractionator may be monitored downstream of the in-line mixer. The pre-cooled stream of high pressure natural gas is sufficiently cooled by flowing through a gas expander that, when mixed with the pre-cooled refinery fuel gas, the resulting temperature causes condensation of heavier hydrocarbon fractions before entering the fractionator. A further cooled, pressure expanded natural gas reflux stream is temperature controlled to maintain fractionator overhead temperature. The fractionator bottoms temperature may be controlled by a circulating reboiler stream.

In a process for separating carbon dioxide from a waste gas (3) of a fluid bed catalytic cracking installation (1) containing carbon dioxide, nitrogen and possibly carbon monoxide, the waste gas (3) is separated by adsorption to form a gas enriched in carbon dioxide and depleted in nitrogen (29) and a gas rich in nitrogen and depleted in carbon dioxide (31), and at least a portion of the gas enriched in carbon dioxide and depleted in nitrogen is separated in a separation device (30) by way of separation at a temperature of less than 0° C. by partial condensation and/or by distillation to form a fluid rich in carbon dioxide (35) and a fluid depleted in carbon dioxide (37).

A process for purifying a gaseous feed stream of natural gas including methane, CO.sub.2 and heavy hydrocarbons including step a): cooling the gaseous feed stream in a heat exchanger; step b): introducing the cooled stream into a phase-separating chamber to produce a liquid stream depleted in methane and enriched in heavy hydrocarbons and a gaseous stream; step c): separating the gaseous stream obtained from step b) in a first membrane producing at least one CO.sub.2-enriched permeate stream and a residual stream enriched in methane; step d): introducing the residual stream obtained from step c) into a phase-separator to produce a liquid stream and a gaseous stream; step e): heating the gaseous stream obtained from step d) by introducing it into the heat exchanger used in step a) counter-currentwise with the feed stream thereby producing a gaseous stream depleted in CO.sub.2 and enriched in methane.

Device and method for the cryogenic purification of a stream of gas, comprising a purification circuit comprising a first inlet and a first set of filters arranged in series, the first set of filters comprising a terminal heat exchanger in a heat-exchange relationship with a cold source, the purification circuit comprising, downstream of the terminal exchanger, a first outlet, the device comprising at least one drive member intended to set the stream of gas in motion in the circuit, the purification circuit further comprising, between the terminal exchanger and the first outlet, a second set of filter(s), and the at least one drive member being configured to set two successive volumes of gas for purification in motion in opposite directions of circulation in the circuit. The invention also relates to a machine including such a device.

A thermally integrated separation method, including exchanging heat indirectly between an inlet stream and a liquid carbon dioxide/NGL containing stream in a heat exchanger, thereby producing a cold inlet stream and a vaporized carbon dioxide/NGL containing stream, introducing the cold inlet stream into a cryogenic separation unit, thereby producing the liquid carbon dioxide/NGL containing stream and a methane-rich stream, introducing the methane-rich stream into a membrane separation unit, thereby producing a methane rich product stream, and a permeate stream, and introducing the vaporized carbon dioxide/NGL containing stream into a carbon dioxide/NGL separation unit, thereby producing a carbon dioxide rich product stream and a NGL rich product stream. Wherein, at least a portion of the liquid carbon dioxide/NGL containing stream bypasses the heat exchanger and is introduced into the carbon dioxide/NGL separation unit in liquid phase.