Patent ID: 7575624

Claim:
A process of removing carbon dioxide from a natural gas feed stream comprising: a) sending said natural gas feed stream comprising methane and carbon dioxide through an adsorbent bed to produce a carbon dioxide depleted methane rich product stream, wherein said adsorbent adsorbs a majority of said carbon dioxide from said natural gas feed stream; b) regenerating said adsorbent bed by passing a regeneration gas stream through said adsorbent bed resulting in a regenerated adsorbent bed and a spent regeneration gas stream comprising carbon dioxide removed from said adsorbent bed; c) cooling said spent regeneration gas stream to a desired temperature to produce a cooled spent regeneration gas stream; d) sending said cooled spent regeneration gas stream to a membrane element to produce a permeate stream passing through said membrane element and a residue stream passing out of the membrane element without passing through said membrane element, wherein substantially all of said carbon dioxide and a minor portion of said methane from said cooled spent regeneration gas stream comprise said permeate stream and wherein a major portion of said methane and a minor portion of said carbon dioxide from said cooled spent regeneration gas stream comprise said residue stream; e) disposing said permeate stream; and f) recirculating said residue stream to join said regeneration gas stream.