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.     

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.     

Production of oxy-rich air by RPSA for combustion use

The capital and energy costs of production of oxygen enriched air by a rapid pressure swing adsorption (RPSA) process can be reduced by decoupling the air drying and the air separation duties of the process. Integration of the oxygen-RPSA process with an enhanced combustion application system allows thermal swing adsorption drying of air feed to the RPSA process. The air separation process then can be run using an ad(de)sorption pressure envelope of 2:1 atmospheres, which significantly reduces the cost and energy of operation of the air compressor.     

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.     

Separation of a binary gas mixture by pressure swing adsorption: Comparison of different PSA cycles

Gas separation of a binary gas mixture by various pressure swing adsorption (PSA) cycles was studied by a numerical simulation in order to provide a guidance in selecting PSA cycles. PSA cycles considered in this study are 3, 4-step cycles for production of only one component and a cycle with pressure equalization for production of a light component. 4 and 5-step cycles for simultaneous production of both components of a binary gas mixture are also considered. Separation of a CH₄/CO₂ gas mixture with zeolite 5A was chosen as a case study. Performances of cycles were examined and compared in view of purity, recovery and productivity. Their relative advantages were discussed. Inclusion of a purging step to a 3-step cycle for production of only one component improves a cycle performance. Further performance improvement of a cycle for production of a light component can be achieved by employing pressure equalization. Sircar's 4-step cycle with a recycle of effluent shows the best performance in view of purity and recovery among cycles for simultaneous production of both components.Nomenclature B Langmuir adsorption constant, bar^–1 - C concentration of sorbate in gas phase, mol/m³ - D defined by Eq. (7) - n amount of sorbate in solid phase, mol/kg - n _s monolayer amount adsorbed, mol/kg - P pressure, bar - R gas constant, J/mol K - T temperature, K - t time, s - U effluent gas velocity, m/s - z height of one cell, m - bulk density of a bed, kg/m³ - bed void fraction - A CH₄ - B CO₂ - H high pressure feed step - P purge step - R heavy-component rinse step - i cell number (i=1 toN)     

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     

Effect of pressure and temperature on the adsorption equilibrium in the H2-Ne-zeolite NaA system

The effect of the temperature, pressure, and gas-phase composition on the parameters of the adsorption equilibrium in a zeolite NaA-neon-hydrogen system was studied. From the results obtained optimum conditions for the adsorption separation of a binary neonhydrogen gas mixture were found.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 3, pp. 611–612, March, 1993.     

Air Separation by Carbon Molecular Sieves

The separation of nitrogen from air on a carbon molecular sieve is achieved by a difference in the adsorption kinetics of oxygen and nitrogen. Assuming the oxygen is adsorbed under equilibrium conditions, a simplified analysis is developed for determining the process performance. As expected, a good agreement is observed between the simplified and full analysis for long cycle times, but for short cycle times, neglecting the oxygen adsorption kinetics leads to erroneous purity predictions. Also, the effect of the adsorption/desorption rate constants on the performance of the pressure swing adsorption process is analyzed, and it is found to be a function of the adsorption/desorption step length. Good agreement between the numerical simulation and experimental results is observed over a wide range of product purities.     

金属有机骨架材料在吸附分离大气污染物中的应用

大气污染问题是关系人民生命健康和经济社会和谐发展的重大问题.因此需要开发高效的吸附材料用于大气污染物的吸附和分离.金属有机骨架材料(MOFs)是一类新型的多孔材料,该材料具有结构多样、孔结构有序、大比表面积和高孔隙率等结构特点.MOFs通过调节有机配体的长度和官能团调节孔径和孔道尺寸,并进行功能化修饰在孔道中引入功能性...     

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%。     

Equilibrium adsorption of binary mixtures of gases by zeolites and the state of the adsorption phase

A method for analyzing the state of the adsorption phase was developed on the basis of statistical thermodynamics for the case of equilibrium adsorption of binary gaseous mixtures. The procedure for treating experimental data to determine the Helmholtz energy and other thermodynamic functions of a mixture of molecules occluded within zeolite cavities was proposed. A measure of ideal behavior of a mixture of a small number of molecules in the micropore was formulated; in the asymptotic limit such a behavior leads to the Raoult law and to assumption of the validity of the Raoult law when moving along the line of constant value of the Gibbs integral in the ideal adsorption solution theory. Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 10, pp. 1927–1932, October, 1998.     

Description of NaX zeolite deformation during adsorption of xenon

The equation describing the experimental data of NaX zeolite deformation during adsorption of xenon at pressures of 0.001–7 MPa and temperatures of 252–333 K was obtained on the basis of the generalized Lennard-Jones pair interaction potential. The temperature dependences of the constants in the equation were determined. Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 10, pp. 1887–1890, October, 1999.     

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.     

CuNaY分子筛的有效吸附位与其脱硫性能的关联性研究

以液相离子交换法制备了一系列不同Cu负载量的CuNaY分子筛;采用XRD及N₂吸附-脱附表征分子筛的微观结构和织构性质,采用动态吸附法考察其对噻吩模拟油的吸附脱硫性能,结合NH₃-TPD和Py-FTIR方法对CuNaY分子筛的酸量和有效Cu⁺物种进行定量分析,研究了CuNaY分子筛的表面酸性和铜物种形态结构对其吸附脱硫性能的影响机制。结果表明,通过改变铜负载量可有效调控改性Y分子筛的表面酸性以及铜物种化学形态;适量铜物种的引入可以最大限度的形成有效吸附位,从而获得最优吸附脱硫性能,而过量的Cu物种会在Y分子筛笼内形成多核铜物种结构,导致有效吸附位点的减少,影响其对噻吩的吸附能力。     

Effect of pressure on oxygen enrichment of liquid crystalline cellulose ether membranes at elevated temperature

Cholesteric liquid crystalline triheptyl cellulose (THC)/ethyl cellulose binary blend membranes were prepared and the effect of pressure on their oxygen enrichment at elevated temperature was investigated using a constant pressure-variable volume method. The oxygen enrichment increased with the increase of transmembrane pressure difference or with slight increase of the THC content in the blend membranes. The oxygen concentration through the membranes increased linearly with decreasing pressure ratio. Air was directly separated through a 17 m-thick THC/EC(1.5/98.5) membrane to prepare an oxygen-enriched air containing 39.5% oxygen at the flux of 6.99×10^–4 cm³ (STP)/s.cm² at the pressure difference of 0.43 MPa and 85 °C.     

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.     

福建无烟粉煤纸浆黑液富氧流化床催化气化研究

在实验室小型流化床反应器中研究了福建龙岩无烟粉煤纸浆黑液富氧催化气化的特性,考察了纸浆黑液催化剂添加量不同时氧体积分数变化对碳转化率、产气率、煤气组成与热值的影响。结果表明,纸浆黑液催化和富氧气体燃烧的双重作用明显地提高了煤的碳转化率和煤气有效组成;纸浆黑液中钠碱对煤焦气化的催化与对煤灰分中SiO2和Al2O3等氧化物的熔制反应同时发生并存在着竞争;纸浆黑液中钠碱对高温碳与气化剂之间多种反应表现出不同程度的促进。龙岩无烟粉煤在纸浆黑液富氧催化气化时适宜操作条件是氧的体积分数40％和蒸汽/富氧比为1.4kg/m3～2.0kg/m3。碳转化率94％、煤产气率为3.62m3/kg、煤气热值为7.33mJ/m3。     

Diffusion-controlled adsorption kinetics at the air/solution interface

 To describe diffusion-controlled adsorption, the diffusion equation is solved under different initial and boundary conditions by means of a Laplace transformation. By solving this equation, it has been found that the solution, which Ward and Tordai used, is only applicable for x>0; therefore, it is incorrect if the derivation is made at x = 0. Ward and Tordai did not notice this and the first derivation was made at x = 0 in order to get the dynamic surface adsorption, Γ(t). In this paper, an accurate solution, which is applicable for x≥ 0, is given and the expression for Γ(t) is obtained. Furthermore the relationship between the dynamic surface tension and Γ(t) is derived. As an example, the dynamic surface tensions of an aqueous octyl-β-d-glucopyranosid solution were measured by means of the maximum bubble pressure method. By using the derived theory it has been proved that the controlling mechanism of the adsorption process of this surfactant at the long-time-adsorption limits changes as a function of the bulk concentration; only at dilute concentration is it controlled by diffusion. Received: 26 July 1999/Accepted in revised form: 16 September 1999     

Carbon Dioxide/Methane Separation by Adsorption on Sepiolite

In this work,the use of sepiolite for the removal of carbon dioxide from a carbon diox- ide/methane mixture by a pressure swing adsorption(PSA)process has been researched.Adsorption equilibrium and kinetics have been measured in a fixed-bed,and the adsorption equilibrium parameters of carbon dioxide and methane on sepiolite have been obtained.A model based on the LDF approxima- tion has been employed to simulate the fixed-bed kinetics,using the Langmuir equation to describe the adsorption equilibrium isotherm.The functioning of a PSA cycle for separating carbon dioxide/methane mixtures using sepiolite as adsorbent has also been studied.The experimental results were compared with the ones predicted by the model adapted to a PSA system.Methane with purity higher than 97% can be obtained from feeds containing carbon dioxide with concentrations ranging from 34% to 56% with the proposed PSA cycle.These results suggest that sepiolite is an adsorbent with good properties for its employment in a PSA cycle for carbon dioxide removal from landfill gases.