Apparatus and system for swing adsorption processes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11413567-B2
Application number	US-201916263940-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 31, 2019
Priority date	Feb 28, 2018
Publication date	Aug 16, 2022
Grant date	Aug 16, 2022

Abstract

Provided are apparatus and systems for performing a swing adsorption process. This swing adsorption process may involve performing modeling to generate a swing adsorption system to manage a feed stream to produce a product stream within specification. The process may be utilized for swing adsorption processes, such as TSA and/or PSA, which are utilized to remove one or more contaminants from a gaseous feed stream.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for fabricating a swing adsorption system to perform a swing adsorption process, the method comprising:
a. identifying one or more contaminants to be removed from a swing adsorption process;
b. identifying a feed contaminant range for a feed stream to the swing adsorption process;
c. identifying a product contaminant threshold for a product stream from the swing adsorption process;
d. identifying a range of flow rates for the feed stream passing through the swing adsorption process;
e. determining an adsorbent bed configuration for each of a plurality of adsorbent bed units in the swing adsorption system, each of the plurality of adsorbent bed units having an adsorbent bed structure, the adsorbent bed structure having a plurality of channels passing through an adsorbent material, the adsorbent material comprising an adsorbent layer in each of the plurality of channels, wherein the adsorbent bed configuration is configured to provide a sharp adsorption front during the swing adsorption process;
f. generating a swing adsorption configuration based on the identified one or more contaminants, the range of flow rates and/or the determined adsorbent bed configuration; and
g. fabricating the swing adsorption system based on the swing adsorption configuration;
wherein determining whether the adsorbent bed configuration is configured to provide the sharp adsorption front comprises:
calculating a ratio of an adsorption rate into the adsorbent layer to a convection rate along one of the plurality of the channels; and
determining that the adsorption front is a sharp adsorption front when the ratio is greater than or equal to 1;
wherein calculating the ratio of the adsorption rate into the adsorbent layer to a convection rate along one of the plurality of the channels comprises solving the following equation (e1):

D
⁢
a

=

N
i

J
i

(
e1
)

wherein Da is the Damkohler number, N i is the total molar adsorption rate of species i and J i is the total molar flow rate through the channels of species i;
wherein N i and J i are obtained according to the following equations (e2) and (e3):

N
i

=

m

a
⁢
d
⁢
s

⁢

k
t
i

⁢
Δ
⁢

q
i

(
e2
)

J
i

=

1
⁢
0
⁢
0
⁢
0
⁢
ρ
⁢
u
⁢
A

M
i

(
e3
)

wherein m ads is the total mass of adsorbent, k t i is the total adsorption rate constant of species i, Δq i , is the adsorbent swing capacity of species i, ρ is the gas density in the channel, u is the gas velocity in the channel, A is the channel cross-sectional area, and M i is the molecular weight of species i;
wherein the total adsorption rate constant k t i is a composite of the rate associated with four mass transfer mechanisms added in series of equations (e4) to (e8), as follows:

1

k
t
i

=

[

1

k
macro
i

+

1

k

m
⁢
e
⁢
s
⁢
o

i

+

1

k
macro
i

+

1

k
film
i

]

(
e4
)

k
macro
i

=

ɛ
macro

⁢

D
m

Assignees

• Johnson Robert A
• Exxonmobil Upstream Res Co

Inventors

• Johnson Robert A

Classifications

• B01D53/047

  Pressure swing adsorption · CPC title

• F25J3/0233

  separation of CnHm with 1 carbon atom or more · CPC title

• B01D2256/245

  Methane · CPC title

• B01D53/1462

  Removing mixtures of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide · CPC title

• B01D2253/104

  Alumina · CPC title