Abstract:

As an abundant resource in China，coal bed methane can be used as an effective supplement to natural gas at the present age of energy crisis. In this paper，several kinds of CH₄/N₂ separation technologies，cryogenic technology，hydrate technology，dissolution technology，membrane separation and pressure swing adsorption（PSA）are reviewed with the emphasis on their separation principles and technology development together with their problems. The progress of separation performance for CH₄/N₂ mixtures of such porous materials as activated carbon，carbon molecular sieve，zeolite and novel porous metal organic frameworks（MOFs）is discussed. MOFs could be a promising PSA adsorbent because of adsorption leap with temperature or pressure.