Patent ID: 7758670

Claim:
A gas-separation assembly, comprising a housing including (i) first and second ends, (ii) a shell between the ends, and (iii) four ports in the housing through which gas may enter or leave the housing, the housing enclosing; (a) an interior region comprising four discrete, gas-tight areas, of which two areas are a first permeate collection area and a second permeate collection area, the third area is a feed gas distribution area and the fourth area is a residue gas collection area, each gas-tight area being provided with access to one port so that gas may enter or leave the gas-tight area through that port; (b) a plurality of tubes positioned in spaced-apart, parallel relationship, each tube having a longitudinal tube wall, a first tube end and a second tube end; (c) within the tubes, a multiplicity of gas separation membrane elements, each containing gas separation membranes, each gas separation membrane having a feed side and a permeate side; (d) for each tube, a permeate collection pipe adapted to capture a permeate gas from the gas separation membrane elements within that tube, each permeate collection pipe having a first collection end accessing the first permeate collection area and a second collection end accessing the second permeate collection area; (e) a tube sheet supporting the tubes and dividing the feed gas distribution area from the residue gas collection area.