Patent ID: 8444749

Claim:
A method of recovering a fast gas from a process producing a varying flow rate of an exhaust gas comprising a fast gas and at least one slow gas, said method comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of sources of a gas mixture comprising the fast and slow gases, wherein the fast gas is Helium and the slow gas is air; obtaining a feed gas stream from one or more of the sources, the feed gas stream comprising the fast and slow gases, the feed gas stream having a variable flow rate based upon how many of the plurality of sources are actively producing the gas mixture; compressing the feed gas stream; feeding the compressed feed gas to a primary gas separation membrane; withdrawing from the primary gas separation membrane a primary permeate stream enriched in the fast gas and a primary residue stream deficient in the fast gas; directing a first portion of the primary permeate stream to a compressor, wherein the first portion is comingled and compressed with the feed gas stream; withdrawing a remaining portion of the primary permeate stream to provide a product gas; adjusting a degree to which the primary permeate stream is allocated between the first portion and the remaining portion based upon an operating parameter of said method.