Plant and process for aerial gas separation using a parallelepipedal adsorber

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12196487-B2
Application number	US-202017432897-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 12, 2020
Priority date	Feb 21, 2019
Publication date	Jan 14, 2025
Grant date	Jan 14, 2025

Abstract

A plant for separating gases from the air comprises, in the direction of circulation of the stream of air: a compression means for compressing the stream of air to a pressure P1 of between 1.15 bar abs and 2 bar abs, a TSA adsorption unit, and a cryogenic distillation unit, with the adsorption unit comprising at least two adsorbers A1 and A2 each having a parallelepipedal casing arranged horizontally and comprising: an air stream inlet and outlet, two fixed bed adsorbent masses each likewise parallelepipedal with faces parallel to the faces of the casing, and a set of volumes allowing the stream of air to traverse the two adsorbent masses horizontally, in parallel, over the whole cross section of each of the adsorbent masses and throughout their thicknesses.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A plant for aerial gas separation comprising, in the direction of circulation of the air stream:
a. compression means that make it possible to compress the air stream to a pressure P 1 of between 1.15 bar abs and 2 bar abs;
b. a TSA unit; and
c. a cryogenic distillation unit,
wherein the TSA unit comprises at least two adsorbers A 1 and A 2 each having a parallelepipedal casing arranged horizontally and comprising:
an air stream inlet and outlet;
two fixed bed adsorbent masses, each also parallelepipedal; and
a set of volumes allowing the air stream to pass through the two adsorbent masses horizontally, in parallel, over the entire cross-section of each of the adsorbent masses and throughout their thicknesses,

wherein the set of volumes comprises:
an internal part comprising:
a first volume V 1 for the introduction and destruction or recovery of fluids;
a second volume V 2 and a third volume V 3 each comprising an adsorbent mass and situated on either side of the first volume V 1 ; and

a free part comprising two volumes V 4 and V 5 for the introduction and distribution or recovery of fluids located on either side of the internal part and between the internal part and the adsorber casing;
wherein the internal part is arranged symmetrically relative to the mid-plane of the adsorber casing,
wherein the internal part has a solid bottom end and/or a solid top end and the first volume V 1 , the second volume V 2 and the third volume V 3 have vertical walls sealably fixed to the top wall of the adsorber casing or to the solid top end and to the bottom wall of the adsorber casing or to the solid bottom end.

2. The plant as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said plant comprises, between the compression means and the cryogenic distillation unit, a single adsorption unit.

3. The plant as claimed in claim 1 , wherein second volume V 2 and the third volume V 3 each comprise at least two adjacent sub-volumes comprising different adsorbents, with all of the adsorbents arranged symmetrically relative to the mid-plane of the adsorber.

4. The plant as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first volume V 1 , the second volume V 2 and the third volume V 3 have vertical walls sealably fixed to the top wall and the bottom wall of the adsorber casing.

5. The plant as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the set of volumes comprises, between the bottom wall of the adsorber casing and the solid bottom end, a space in fluid communication with volumes V 4 and V 5 .

6. The plant as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the top wall of the adsorber casing and the solid top end, a space in fluid communication with volumes V 4 and V 5 .

7. The plant as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first volume V 1 , the second volume V 2 and the third volume V 3 have vertical walls sealably fixed to at least one lateral wall of the adsorber casing.

8. A process for aerial gas separation from an air stream containing at least one impurity selected from water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons, using the plant as defined in claim 1 and comprising the following successive steps:
a) compressing the air stream to a pressure P 1 of between 1.15 bar abs and 2 bar abs;
b) purifying the compressed air stream, by adsorption using the TSA unit so as to remove at least one impurity contained in the air stream; and
c) separating the constituents of the air stream by cryogenic distillation using the unit,
wherein all of step b) are carried out at the pressure P 1 ,
wherein in step b) the air stream is introduced into the two volumes V 4 and V 5 and the purified air stream is withdrawn from volume V 1 .

9. The process for aerial gas separation as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the pressure P 1 is between 1.15 bar abs and 1.5 bar abs.

10. The process for aerial gas separation as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the set of volumes comprises, between the bottom wall of the adsorber casing and the solid bottom end, a space in fluid communication with volumes V 4 and V 5 , and in step b) the air stream is introduced into space in fluid communication with volumes V 4 and V 5 and the purified air stream is withdrawn from volume V 1 .

11. The process for aerial gas separation as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the top wall of the adsorber casing and the solid top end, a space in fluid communication with volumes V 4 and V 5 , and in step b) the air stream is introduced into space in fluid communication with volumes V 4 and V 5 and the purified air stream is withdrawn from volume V 1 .

12. The process for aerial gas separation as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the process comprises a step d) of regeneration of the TSA unit in which the gas is introduced into volume V 1 and then withdrawn from the two volumes V 4 and V 5 .

13. The process for aerial gas separation as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the set of volumes comprises, between the bottom wall of the adsorber casing and the solid bottom end, a space in fluid communication with volumes V 4 and V 5 , and comprises a step d) of regeneration of the TSA unit in which the gas is introduced into volume V 1 and then withdrawn from the space in fluid communication with volumes V 4 and V 5 .

14. The process for aerial gas separation as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the top wall of the adsorber casing and the solid top end, a space in fluid communication with volumes V 4 and V 5 , and comprises a step d) of regeneration of the TSA unit in which the gas is introduced into volume V 1 and then withdrawn from the space in fluid communication with volumes V 4 and V 5 .

15. A plant for aerial gas separation comprising, in the direction of circulation of the air stream:
a. compression means that make it possible to compress the air stream to a pressure P 1 of between 1.15 bar abs and 2 bar abs;
b. a TSA unit; and
c. a cryogenic distillation unit,
wherein the adsorption unit comprises at least two adsorbers A 1 and A 2 each having a parallelepipedal casing arranged horizontally and comprising:
an air stream inlet and outlet;
two fixed bed adsorbent masses, each also parallelepipedal, the faces of which are parallel to the faces of the casing; and

a set of volumes allowing the air stream to pass through the two adsorbent masses horizontally, in parallel, over the entire cross-section of each of the adsorbent masses and throughout their thicknesses,

wherein the set of volumes comprises:
an internal part comprising:
a first volume V 1 for the introduction and distribution or recovery of fluids;
a second volume V 2 and a third volume V 3 each comprising an adsorbent mass and situated on either side of the first volume V 1 ; and

a free part comprising two volumes V 4 and V 5 for the introduction and distribution or recovery of fluids located on either side of the internal part and between the internal part and the adsorber casing;
wherein the internal dart is arranged symmetrically relative to the mid-plane of the adsorber casing,
wherein the first volume V 1 , the second volume V 2 and the third volume V 3 have vertical walls sealably fixed to at least one solid plate parallel to a lateral wall of the adsorber casing.

16. The plant as claimed in claim 15 , wherein set of volumes comprises, between the solid plate and a lateral wall of the adsorber casing, a space in fluid communication with volumes V 4 and V 5 .

Assignees

• Air Liquide

Inventors

• Davidian Benoit

Classifications

• F25J2290/12

  Particular process parameters like pressure, temperature, ratios · CPC title

• F25J2205/60

  using adsorption on solid adsorbents, e.g. by temperature-swing adsorption [TSA] at the hot or cold end · CPC title

• F25J3/04866

  Construction and layout of air fractionation equipments, e.g. valves, machines (F25J5/00 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F25J3/04775

  Air purification and pre-cooling · CPC title

• B01D2257/504

  Carbon dioxide · CPC title