(187a) Imtex's Permylene Membrane Separation Technology - Transforming Olefin Extraction and Purification for the Petrochemical and Refining Industries

Imtex's Permylene membrane separation technology transforms olefin extraction and purification for the petrochemical and refining industries. Imtex' membrane technology provides a profitable, high-performance, energy efficient alternative to traditional distillation techniques for olefin-paraffin and olefin-nitrogen separations. Permylene seeks to evolve core olefin processes by debottlenecking, decarbonizing and electrifying olefin separation.

Permylene focuses on olefin recovery from polyolefin vent/purge processes, olefin recovery from raffinate streams, and novel propylene upgrading for process debottlenecking, energy savings and greenhouse gas reduction. Imtex Permylene is nearing its goal for full commercializing – in late 2022, Imtex sold its first commercial technology license to a Top 15 Global petrochemical industry player.

Imtex has now run successful onsite customer field trials using plant feed from a polyethylene reactor vent stream and a C4 raffinate, along with extensive C3 separation testing. Imtex is also shortly completing commissioning of a full-scale membrane system at its Customer Demonstration Center where prospective clients can process up to 0.5t/hr of mixed light olefin feed streams through a single module. Imtex expects to start customer application testing in Q1 2024. This paper will present some of the operational and performance data from those trials along with a discussion on the progress and learnings on the path to commercial-scale project implementation.