Gas separation: apparatus – Solid sorbent apparatus – Plural solid sorbent beds
Patent
1995-02-28
1997-05-27
Sptizer, Robert
Gas separation: apparatus
Solid sorbent apparatus
Plural solid sorbent beds
96133, 96144, 96151, B01D 5304
Patent
active
056328079
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to devices for the separation of elements of a gas mixture, of the type comprising at least two adsorbers each defining an internal volume having a lower end zone and an upper end zone and means for bringing the upper and lower end zones of the adsorbers into selective communication with fluid circuits.
Separation devices of this type are essentially used, in pressure or temperature variation technologies called PSA or TSA, for the production, starting with a gas mixture, of a gaseous constituent of this mixture, especially of a constituent of air, oxygen or nitrogen, or for the purification of a gas mixture, especially of feed air for a cryogenic air separation unit, also for the production of a constituent of air, oxygen and/or nitrogen and/or argon, and generally employ at least one of the adsorbents chosen from the group comprising zeolites, activated carbon, alumina or silica gels. Examples of these technologies are described especially in the documents U.S. Pat. No. 5,223,004, EP-092,153, U.S. Pat. No. 3,338,030 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,548. In the known devices, generally comprising two to four adsorbers, the latter are arranged vertically one beside the other, in a battery, with much pipework provided with valving, connecting the lower and upper parts of the various adsorbers to the fluid circuits. In addition, in applications employing the alternation of hot and cold gases, the adsorbers, which in practice are not thermally insulated, have to be arranged at a certain horizontal distance away from each other.
The object of the present invention is to propose a device for separation by adsorption having a particularly compact and closely-built configuration and being suitable for various applications.
In order to do this, according to one characteristic of the invention, the adsorbers are superposed.
According to other characteristics of the invention:
--the means for bringing into communication with the fluid circuits comprise, for each adsorber, a vertical central tube having one end communicating with a lower or upper end zone of the internal volume and the other end of which is connected to one of the said fluid circuits;
--the central tubes are mechanically connected to each other and to the vertically opposed end walls of the device.
The present invention also relates to the applications of such devices for the production, by separation, of a constituent of a gas mixture, especially of hydrogen from a gas mixture containing hydrogen, of oxygen or of nitrogen from air, or, for the purification in terms of oxides of carbon and in terms of water, of air delivered to a cryogenic air separation unit.
Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will emerge from the following description of embodiments given by way of illustration but in no way limiting, given in relation with the appended drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view in vertical section of a first embodiment of a device according to the invention;
FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view in vertical section of a second embodiment of the invention; and
FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic view in vertical section of a third embodiment of a device according to the invention.
In the description which will follow, and in the drawings, identical or similar elements bear the same reference numbers, possibly with. indices.
In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the device includes three identical superposed adsorbers 1A, 1B, 1C, each consisting of a peripheral cylindrical wall 2A, 2B, 2C and of transverse end walls in the form of upper 3A, 3B, 3C and lower 4.sub.1, 4A, 4B, 4C cupolas. The upper cupola 3A, 3B, 3C typically includes an opening 5A, 5B, 5C for filling with the adsorber in order to form therein at least one bed of adsorbent. The adsorbers are connected to each other by cylindrical skirts 6C and 6B surrounding a space between the adjacent adsorbers, the assembly being supported on a lower skirt 6A integral with the lower adsorber 1A. In the embodiment shown, each adsorber includes a vertical coaxial central tube
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Muruyama Shuichi
Tomita Shinji
Wagner Marc
L'Air Liquide Societe Anonyme pour l'Etude et, l'Exploitation de
Sptizer Robert
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