Techno-Economic Comparison of Helium Recovery from Natural Gas Using Polymeric Membranes Simulation

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
mohammad mahdi yousefi 1
Mostafa Jafari 2
1 M.Sc. Student, School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
2 2. Ph.D. Graduate, Researcher, Institute of Liquefied Natural Gas (I-LNG), School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
We simulated a three-stage membrane process for helium recovery from natural gas in PRO/II using the Peng–Robinson equation of state. Three polymeric membranes: polyimide, polypyrrole, and polysulfone were evaluated under identical feed conditions and design criteria (90% product purity, 95% recovery). The model reproduced literature data and the stagewise increase in purity. Techno-economic analysis shows that the higher permeability of polyimide and polypyrrole lowers the required membrane area and compression power, improving both CAPEX and OPEX. In the optimized design, total investment is USD 8–9 million, the payback period is about 5–5.5 years, and the rate of return is 19%. Accordingly, polyimide is the most economical option, with polypyrrole as a close alternative, while polysulfone remains less competitive. One-way sensitivity analyses indicate limited elasticity to electricity tariff but strong dependence on helium price over the tested range.
Keywords
Helium recovery
Polymeric membrane
Permeability
Selectivity
Economic evaluation
Subjects
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  • Receive Date 25 September 2025
  • Revise Date 09 October 2025
  • Accept Date 03 November 2025