Piston-driven ultra rapid pressure swing adsorption

The piston-driven ultra rapid pressure swing adsorption (URPSA) equipment was developed and oxygen enrichment from air was examined as an example. The adsorbent bed is directly connected to the cylinder where a piston moves at high frequency. Thus pressurization and depressurization in the bed are driven by mechanical piston motion, which can achieve far more rapid cycles compared with the conventional pressure swing operation using valves. The cycle time is usually on the order of seconds or sub seconds. Oxygen enrichment from air up to about 60% or higher of oxygen concentration was achieved by small-scale equipment using zeolite 5A with a oxygen production capacity of 100 Nm³-product gas/m³-zeolite/hr, which is about ten times larger than those of commercialized PSAs for this purpose.A simplified numerical model describing the mass transfer taking place in URPSA was developed. The model could simulate fairly well the air separation characteristics in terms of oxygen concentration, oxygen production capacity and oxygen yield. The proposed model helps in the understanding of the basic nature of URPSA and possible applications. This novel PSA is promising as a compact yet high-capacity PSA to be utilized in a wide variety of applications.     

Effect of variable feed concentration on the performance of a pressure swing adsorption process

Effects of variable feed composition on the performance of a pressure swing adsorption process are analyzed by simulation. Two scenarios are considered. The first, increasing impurity, case considers low impurity concentration in the feed followed by high impurity concentration in the feed. The second, decreasing impurity, case considers high impurity concentration in the feed followed by low impurity concentration in the feed. These results are compared against a case which has an impurity concentration in the feed at an average of the high and the low impurity concentrations. Simulations show that the increasing impurity scenario is expected to perform better, and the decreasing impurity scenario is expected to perform worse than the average feed concentration case.     

Radial flow rapid pressure swing adsorption

A new PSA process has been proposed and experimentally verified. This process was operated with a radial flow geometry under a cycle time less than 30 seconds. It has been showed that enriched oxygen could be produced when air was fed inward. The same system showed virtually no separation effect if the feed direction was reversed. The change of separation efficiency upon flow reversal was most significant when small adsorbent particles were employed. A ø 200×75 mm annular packing with 3 µm particles of zeolite 5A was able to produce 60% purity oxygen from air. The effect of flow direction on system performance confirmed the importance of flow resistance distribution. In radial flow geometry, most of the flow resistance was located near the center of the disk. The relative small pressure gradient at the feed end enabled a better absorbent utilization during the inward feed step, and a more effective desorption during the vent step. The same principle could be extended to other geometric configurations.     

Production of oxygen enriched air by rapid pressure swing adsorption

A novel rapid pressure swing adsorption (RPSA) process is described for production of 25–50% oxygen enriched air. The embodiment consists of one or more pairs of adsorbent layers contained in a single adsorption vessel. The layers undergo simultaneous pressurization-adsorption and simultaneous depressurization-purge steps. A total cycle time of 6–20 seconds is used. The process yields a very large specific oxygen production rate and a reasonable oxygen recovery for production of 20–50 mole% oxygen enriched gas.It is demonstrated by a simple mathematical model of isothermal single adsorbate pressure swing ad(de)sorption concept on a single adsorbent particle that the specific production rate of a PSA process cannot be indefinitely increased by reducing the cycle time of operation when adsorbate mass transfer resistances are finite.     

Fractional factorial design study of a pressure swing adsorption-solvent vapor recovery process

A two-level fractional factorial study was performed by computer simulation on the periodic state process performance of a pressure swing adsorption-solvent vapor recovery process (PSA-SVR). The goal was to investigate factor (parameter) interaction effects on the process performance, i.e., interaction effects that cannot be ascertained from the conventional one-at-a-time approach. Effects of seven factors, i.e., the purge to feed ratio, pressure level, pressure ratio, heat transfer coefficient, feed concentration, feed volumetric flow rate and bed length to diameter ratio, on the process performance were investigated. The results were judged in terms of the light product purity, heavy product enrichment (and relative enrichment) and recovery, and bed capacity factor. Only the purge to feed ratio, pressure ratio, and feed concentration had significant effects on the benzene vapor enrichment (and relative enrichment); and no two-factor and higher interactions were observed. The light product purity was affected by all seven factors; and the relative importance of the effect of each factor depended on the levels of the other factors, i.e., significant two-factor interaction effects existed. Two-factor interaction effects also existed on the benzene vapor recovery, although the effects of all seven factors and their interactions were relatively small. The bed capacity factor was affected mainly by the purge to feed ratio, the heat transfer coefficient and the feed concentration; two factor and higher order interaction effects were insignificant. Overall, this study demonstrated the utility of fractional factorial design for revealing factor interactions and their effects on the performance of a PSA-SVR process.Nomenclature BCF bed capacity factor, % - b, b ₀ isotherm parameters, m³/(mol K^0.5) - C _pg gas phase heat capacity, kJ/(kg K) - C _ps solid phase heat capacity, kJ/(kg K) - E enrichment - E _I ideal enrichment - E _R relative enrichment - H heat transfer coefficient, kJ/m² s K) - H heat of adsorption, kJ/mol - k number of factors, or mass transfer coefficient, l/s - l number of levels - L bed length, m - LD bed length to diameter ratio - PF purge to feed ratio - P _H adsorption high pressure, kPa - P _L desorption pressure, kPA - PL pressure level, represented byP _I - PR pressure ratio - q amount adsorbed, mol/kg - q ^xx equilibrium amount adsorbed, mol/kg - q ^xx _j equilibrium amount adsorbed at the feed conditions, mol/kg - r _b bed radius, m - R solvent vapor recovery, % or gas constant, m³ (mole K) - T temperature, K - T ₀ ambient temperature, K - t time, s - u interstitial velocity, m/s - VF volumetric feed flow rate, m³ STP/s - YF feed mole fraction - Y _p light product mole fraction - z axial coordinate, m Greek Symbols _g gas phase density, kg/m³ - _s solid phase density, kg/m³ - bed void fraction     

Landfill Gas: From Rubbish to Resource

The prospects of using landfill gas (LFG) as a high-grade fuel in the immediate future, in view of environmental regulations, the Kyoto Protocols, and energy prices, are discussed. Adsorption cycles suggested in the late 1980s by Sircar and co-workers for treating LFG are reviewed: one produced CO₂-free methane and the other produced both CO₂-free methane and methane-free CO₂. Neither of those could be used to produce pipeline quality gas from LFG, due to contaminants such as nitrogen. Two new three-stage flowsheets are discussed as a means to separate pipeline-grade methane from LFG. One is a hybrid membrane—PSA system. The other is a TSA—PSA system. The third stage of both of these systems is crucial to obtaining pipeline quality gas, i.e., a PSA unit to extract the nitrogen and other light gases from methane. A novel PSA cycle is suggested and explained in terms of: a model by which the recovery, power requirements, and adsorbent bed size can be estimated.     

Effect of Operation Symmetry on Pressure Swing Adsorption Process

In a multi-bed pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process, cycle steps with gas flow transferring from one bed to another such as equalization, purge, etc. are generally practiced to enhance the product recovery. However, if the flows for the connected beds in these steps are not balanced, the PSA process may not operate in a symmetrical manner. In the modeling of the PSA process, most of the simulations consider only one bed and assume that the rest of the beds would behave in a same way. In order to assess the impact of bed symmetry on the PSA performance, a new PSA model capable of studying bed symmetry in a two-bed system is developed. Experimental results from this paper show that uneven equalization flow can result in a lower product purity and a peculiar purity curve at different equalization levels. This phenomenon can be successfully predicted by this model. Simulation results also show that in large-scale PSA units, asymmetrical operation can cause drastically different temperature profiles in different adsorbers and hence a much lower performance. This paper demonstrates the importance of maintaining operation symmetry in PSA processes.     

电厂废气中饱和水蒸气对活性炭变压吸附捕集CO2的影响

由于热电厂废气中含有高湿饱和水蒸气,选用疏水材料活性炭为吸附剂,利用真空变压吸附技术研究了活性炭分离电厂废气中水蒸气和二氧化碳的可行性和优越性,研究了水对CO₂捕集的影响。实验分析表明,水在活性炭上的“S”型等温吸附曲线有利于真空条件下被解吸。同时,圆锥模型描述了水蒸气在吸附床内的浓度分布。结果表明,即使水蒸气可以被活性炭吸附,但它的存在不影响CO₂的捕集。每个循环操作可在相对较短的解吸时间和较高的解吸压力下完成。实验中单床三步变压吸附工艺可以使CO₂回收率高达80%,CO₂纯度达43%。     

Molecular simulation of binary mixture adsorption in buckytubes and MCM-41

MCM-41 and buckytubes are novel porous materials with controllable pore sizes and narrow pore size distributions. Buckytubes are carbon tubes with internal diameters in the range 1–5 urn. The structure of each tube is thought to be similar to one or more graphite sheets rolled up in a helical manner. MCM-41 is one member of a new family of highly uniform mesoporous silicate materials produced by Mobil, whose pore size can be accurately controlled in the range 1.5–10 nm. We present grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations of single fluid and binary mixture adsorption in a model buckytube, and nonlocal density functional theory (DFT) calculations of trace pollutant separation in a range of buckytubes and MCM-41 pores. Three adsorbed fluids are considered; methane, nitrogen and propane. The GCMC studies show that the more strongly adsorbed pure fluid is adsorbed preferentially from an equimolar binary mixture. Ideal adsorbed solution theory (IAST) is shown to give good qualitative agreement with GCMC when predicting binary mixture separations. The DFT results demonstrate the very large increases in trace pollutant separation that can be achieved by tuning the pore size, structure, temperature and pressure of the MCM-41 and buckytube adsorbent systems to their optimal values.     

R and D Note: Separation of a Nitrogen-Carbon Dioxide Mixture by Rapid Pressure Swing Adsorption

A N₂-CO₂ mixture is separated in a rapid pressure swing adsorption apparatus, which consists of single or double adsorbent beds filled with silica gel and operates in the sequence of adsorption, backflow and desorption. Nitrogen-rich gas is produced at the top of the bed, and carbon dioxide-rich gas at the bottom. Carbon dioxide purity of 89.5% and recovery of 70% were obtained in the single-bed apparatus, while purity of 93.5% and recovery of 72.3% were obtained in the double-bed apparatus. The feed in both cases consisted of 81% N₂ and 19% CO₂.     

Kinetic Separation of Oxygen and Argon Using Molecular Sieve Carbon

A pressure-swing adsorption (PSA) simulation study was performed for the separation of a mixture of 95% O₂ and 5% Ar using a molecular sieve carbon (MSC) as the adsorbent. Two PSA cycles have been outlined to maximize the recovery of either argon or oxygen as a high purity product. The effect of cycle parameters such as cocurrent depressurization pressure, purge/feed ratio, pressure ratio and adsorption pressure on the separation of O₂/Ar has been studied. It was found that it is feasible to obtain an argon product of purity in excess of 80% with reasonably high recovery using one of the cycles. The other cycle is capable of producing high purity oxygen (>99%) at high recovery (>50%) with reasonably high product throughputs. The PSA process can be conducted at room temperature and hence has an advantage over conventional processes like cryogenic distillation and cryogenic adsorption.     

Comparison of Finite Difference Techniques for Simulating Pressure Swing Adsorption

Three different finite-difference routines were compared for solving the nonlinear, coupled, partial differential and algebraic equations that describe pressure swing adsorption processes. A successive substitution method (SS), a block LU decomposition procedure (BLUD), and the method of lines approach with adaptive time stepping (DASSL) were used to simulate and compare the computation times required to reach the periodic state for two different PSA systems: PSA-air drying and PSA-solvent vapor recovery. For both systems, the results showed that DASSL was nearly twice as fast as BLUD, whereas SS was nearly an order of magnitude slower than BLUD. DASSL and BLUD were also very robust and accurate, as nearly identical bed profiles were obtained from both methods under both transient and periodic state conditions.     

Competitive adsorption of proteins and low-molecular-weight surfactants: computer simulation and microscopic imaging

Proteins and low-molecular-weight (LMW) surfactants are used in the food industry as emulsifying (and foaming) ingredients and as stabilizers. These attributes are related to their ability to adsorb at fluid-fluid (and gas-fluid) interfaces lowering the interfacial (and surface) tension of liquids. Hence, the study of the properties of adsorbed layers of these molecules can be expected to lead to a better understanding of their effect on food products. Direct proof of the validity of mesoscopic models of systems of proteins and LMW surfactants can only be achieved by quantitative theoretical predictions being tested against both macroscopic and mesoscopic experiments. Computer simulation constitutes one of the few available tools to predict mathematically the behaviour of models of realistic complexity. Furthermore, experimental techniques such as atomic force microscopy (AFM) now allow high resolution imaging of these systems, providing the mesoscopic scale measurements to compare with the simulations. In this review, we bring together a number of related findings that have been generated at this mesoscopic level over the past few years. A useful simple model consisting of spherical particles interacting via bonded and unbonded forces is described, and the derived computer simulation results are compared against those from the imaging experiments. Special attention is paid to the adsorption of binary mixtures of proteins, mixtures of LMW surfactants, and also protein+surfactant mixed systems. We believe that further development of these mathematically well-defined physical models is necessary in order to achieve a proper understanding of the key physico-chemical processes involved.     

大孔吸附树脂分离纯化金银花绿原酸研究

以金银花粗提物为原料,比较了NKA-2、D1400、聚酰胺、HP2MGL、ADS-21、D101及AB-8 7种大孔吸附树脂对金银花绿原酸静态吸附与解吸的效果,并通过单因子实验、正交试验与验证实验,优化了树脂分离纯化金银花绿原酸的工艺技术参数.结果表明,NKA-2树脂吸附效果最好,静态饱和吸附量可达212.17 mg/...     

Adsorptive Separation of Acetylene from Light Hydrocarbons by Mesoporous Iron Trimesate MIL‐100(Fe)

A reducible metal–organic framework (MOF), iron(III) trimesate, denoted as MIL‐100(Fe), was investigated for the separation and purification of methane/ethane/ethylene/acetylene and an acetylene/CO₂ mixtures by using sorption isotherms, breakthrough experiments, ideal adsorbed solution theory (IAST) calculations, and IR spectroscopic analysis. The MIL‐100(Fe) showed high adsorption selectivity not only for acetylene and ethylene over methane and ethane, but also for acetylene over CO₂. The separation and purification of acetylene over ethylene was also possible for MIL‐100(Fe) activated at 423 K. According to the data obtained from operando IR spectroscopy, the unsaturated Fe^III sites and surface OH groups are mainly responsible for the successful separation of the acetylene/ethylene mixture, whereas the unsaturated Fe^II sites have a detrimental effect on both separation and purification. The potential of MIL‐100(Fe) for the separation of a mixture of C₂H₂/CO₂ was also examined by using the IAST calculations and transient breakthrough simulations. Comparing the IAST selectivity calculations of C₂H₂/CO₂ for four MOFs selected from the literature, the selectivity with MIL‐100(Fe) was higher than those of CuBTC, ZJU‐60a, and PCP‐33, but lower than that of HOF‐3.     

Charge dynamics of a methane adsorption storage system: Intraparticle diffusional effects

The charge of natural gas adsorption storage systems is studied numerically, With emphasis given to the impact on its dynamics of intraparticle diffusional resistances to mass transport. Besides adsorption kinetics and thermal effects, the simulation model takes into account both mass transport inside the adsorbent and hydrodynamics of flow through the packed bed. Numerical results are presented for change with methane of a 50 liter cylindrical reservoir, filled with hypothetical adsorbents with diffusional time constants in the range 10^–3 s¹ D/R _p ² . and with the adsorption equilibrium curve of a commercially available activated carbon with a good adsorptive storage capacity. An attempt is made to assemble the charge histories for different values ofD/R _p ² , in a single cure by using a modilied time scale.     

On the nanostructure of polymer layers formed by adsorption from binary and ternary solutions on a solid SiO2: a combined adsorption and atomic force microscopy (AFM) study

The thickness of nanolayers formed by adsorption from dilute and semi-dilute solutions on a solid SiO₂ surface has been estimated from adsorption isotherms and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements for polystyrene, poly(butyl methacrylate), and their mixtures. The thickness of the adsorption layers depends strongly on the adsorption conditions and is controlled by several features of the adsorbing entities. In a low-concentration regime of adsorption, the length of polymer chains and the nature of their interaction with the substrate are the most important factors controlling the adsorption process. Above the critical concentration C*, macromolecular clusters (aggregates of several overlapping chains) are formed in a solution as a result of polymer chains self-assembly. Therefore, the final adsorption layer thickness is determined mainly by the size of the clusters in this concentrated regime of adsorption. We also demonstrate that in the case of polymer mixtures, the adsorption leads to formation of mosaic structures with alternation of the polymeric components in plane of the substrate and a characteristic domain size of approximately 200 nm for each of the components. AFM study reveals that the adsorbed layers are fractal structures whose fractal dimensions depend on the type of the polymer and the adsorption process. We demonstrate therefore that the structure of nanolayers of polymers and their mixtures on the solid surface can be regulated by variation of the adsorption conditions.     

The nitric oxide adsorption on gold neutral,cation, and anion atoms: A comparative ab initio MRCI—MRPT2 studies

The Au^ν + NO(²Π) → AuNO^ν reaction, for ν = ?1, 0, +1, anion, neutral, and cation are calculated and predicted at multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) and multireference second order perturbation (MRPT2) levels of theory, in this way the main parameters: reaction path surfaces, total and adsorption energies, optimized geometries, and Mulliken charges distribution are presented and compared. The AuNO (X ¹A′) complex is created spontaneously with ?11.32 and ?13.14 kcal/mol adsorption energies with the MRCI and MRPT2 approaches, respectively. The AuNO bonding in the neutral gold nitrosyl complex has a covalent character and the nitric oxide (NO) molecule is not dissociated. The others excited states (a ³A″, b ³A′, and A ¹A″) do not present bonding. The gold nitrosyl cationic (X ²A′, A ²A″, and a ⁴A″) and anionic (X ²A″ and a ⁴A″) are bonding and present a dative covalent bond. The Mulliken analysis done for ionic species show that the binding is done through soft electrostatic interactions, due to that there is some charge transfer, delocalized onto the NO molecule for the AuNO^± ionic species whereas the AuNO (X ¹A′) neutral complex presents a little charge transfer. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2011