Nitrogen service supply system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11014039-B2
Application number	US-201816029004-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 6, 2018
Priority date	Jul 6, 2018
Publication date	May 25, 2021
Grant date	May 25, 2021

Abstract

The present invention relates to a novel integrated system for providing nitrogen (N2) to a variety of industrial service applications such as, for example, process unit drying, pipeline purging, reactor cooling, vessel inerting, pipeline displacement.

First claim

We claim:

1. An integrated system for providing nitrogen to a temporary industrial service application, comprising:
at least one mobile pressure swing adsorption unit for providing a baseload of nitrogen fluid having a first specification to a nitrogen service application;
at least one mobile liquid N 2 fed system including liquid N 2 transports/trailers disposed upstream of at least one trailer mounted pumper unit or trailer mounted vaporizer unit liquid N 2 feed system to provide liquid nitrogen thereto for providing supplemental nitrogen at a second specification to the nitrogen service application, wherein a combined baseload and supplemental nitrogen provide a product nitrogen stream at a predetermined flow rate, temperature, pressure, and purity as required by the industrial service application.

2. The integrated system of claim 1 , further comprising: at least one mobile air compressor disposed upstream of the at least one pressure swing adsorption apparatus for receiving an air feed stream, to form a compressed air stream and feeding the compressed air stream to the at least one pressure swing adsorption apparatus.

3. The integrated system of claim 1 , further comprising: a mobile product conditioning unit for receiving a product stream from the at least one pressure swing adsorption unit to manipulate the pressure, temperature or purity of the baseload nitrogen fluid.

4. The integrated system of claim 1 , further comprising a mixing device downstream for combining the baseload of nitrogen fluid having a first specification with the supplemental nitrogen having a second specification to form a product stream of the requisite nitrogen specifications necessitated by the service application.

5. An integrated process for providing nitrogen to a temporary industrial service application, comprising:
providing a compressed feed stream to at least one mobile nitrogen pressure swing adsorption unit and separating a baseload of nitrogen fluid having a first specification from an oxygen enriched waste steam;
providing a supplemental nitrogen via a liquid N 2 fed system including liquid N 2 transports/trailers disposed upstream of at least one trailer mounted pumper unit or trailer mounted vaporizer unit liquid N 2 feed system to provide liquid nitrogen thereto wherein the supplemental nitrogen is provided at a second specification, and combining the supplemental nitrogen with a baseload nitrogen fluid producing a product nitrogen stream at a predetermined flow rate, temperature, pressure and purity as required by the industrial service application.

6. The integrated process of claim 5 , wherein the product nitrogen is provided at a flow rate ranging from about 20 ksch to 1,000 ksch and a purity from approximately 90% to 99.9%.

7. The integrated process of claim 5 , wherein the temporary industrial service application is selected from: process unit drying, transmission pipeline drying/purging, catalyst replacement, reactor cooling, storage tank cooling/purging, transmission pipeline displacement, pipeline target testing and mine inerting.

8. The integrated process of claim 5 , wherein the product nitrogen is provided pressure ranging from about 50-500 psig, a temperature of −250 to 320° F., and a duration of 1-90 days.

9. An integrated process for providing nitrogen to a temporary heating service application, comprising:
providing a compressed air feed stream to at least one mobile nitrogen pressure swing adsorption unit and separating a baseload of nitrogen fluid having a first specification from an oxygen enriched waste steam and where said baseload nitrogen fluid is at a lower temperature than required by the heating application;
providing a supplemental nitrogen via a liquid N 2 fed system wherein the supplemental nitrogen is provided at a second specification and where the supplemental nitrogen is at a higher temperature than required by the heating application, and combining the supplemental nitrogen with the baseload nitrogen fluid producing a product nitrogen stream at a predetermined flow rate, temperature, pressure and purity as required by the heating service application.

10. The integrated system of claim 1 , further comprising an advanced PLC system that manipulates the PSA and liquid N 2 fed system independently to attain a product nitrogen stream based on the process parameters required by the downstream application.

11. An integrated process for providing nitrogen to a temporary cooling service application, comprising:
providing a compressed air feed stream to at least one mobile nitrogen pressure swing adsorption unit and separating a baseload of nitrogen fluid having a first specification from an oxygen enriched waste steam and where said baseload nitrogen fluid is at a higher temperature than required by the cooling application;
providing a supplemental nitrogen via a liquid N 2 fed system wherein the supplemental nitrogen is provided at a second specification and where the supplemental nitrogen is at a lower temperature than required by the cooling application and combining the supplemental nitrogen with the baseload nitrogen fluid producing a product nitrogen stream at a predetermined flow rate, temperature, pressure and purity as required by the cooling service application.

12. An integrated process for providing nitrogen to a temporary industrial service application, comprising:
providing a compressed air feed stream to at least one mobile nitrogen pressure swing adsorption unit and separating a baseload of nitrogen fluid having a first specification from an oxygen enriched waste steam and where said baseload nitrogen fluid is at a lower purity than required by the service application;
providing a supplemental nitrogen via a liquid N 2 fed system wherein the supplemental nitrogen is provided at a second specification and where the supplemental nitrogen is at a higher purity than required by the service application and combining the supplemental nitrogen with the baseload nitrogen fluid producing a product nitrogen stream at a predetermined flow rate, temperature, pressure and purity as required by the service application.

Assignees

• Kelly Richard M
• Biradar Mahesh
• Thomas Matthew J
• Cieutat George
• Praxair Technology Inc

Inventors

• Kelly Richard M
• Biradar Mahesh
• Thomas Matthew J
• Cieutat George

Classifications

• B01D53/04

  with stationary adsorbents {(B01D53/025 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B01D2259/455

  for transportable use · CPC title

• B01D2253/116

  Molecular sieves other than zeolites · CPC title

• F25B19/005

  the refrigerant being a liquefied gas · CPC title

• B01D2253/102

  Carbon · CPC title