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.