Apparatus and system having a valve assembly and swing adsorption processes related thereto

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9675925-B2
Application number	US-201514790550-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 2, 2015
Priority date	Jul 25, 2014
Publication date	Jun 13, 2017
Grant date	Jun 13, 2017

Abstract

Provided are apparatus and systems having a lessened pulsation through the use of a pulse flow control mechanism. In performing a cyclical swing adsorption process, various streams are passed through adsorbent bed units during various steps in the swing adsorption process. The pulse flow control mechanism is utilized within a manifold of one of the streams to lessen pulsation within the manifold that results from performing the various steps.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cyclical swing adsorption process for removing contaminants from a gaseous feed stream comprising:
performing a cyclical swing adsorption process by:
passing a portion of a gaseous feed stream through one of a plurality of adsorbent bed units during an adsorption step, wherein the one of the plurality of adsorbent bed units is configured to separate one or more contaminants from the portion of the gaseous feed stream to form a product stream;
interrupting the flow of the gaseous feed stream to the one of the plurality of adsorbent bed units; and
removing one or more contaminants from the one of the plurality of adsorbent bed units during a subsequent swing adsorption process step; and

repeating the cyclical swing adsorption process for a subsequent cycle;
wherein each of the plurality of adsorbent bed units are in fluid communication with a plurality of manifolds, wherein one of the plurality of manifolds is in fluid communication with a pulse flow control mechanism configured to lessen pulsation within the one of the plurality of manifolds; and separating a feed stream into the portion of the gaseous feed stream and a repressurization stream in the pulse flow control mechanism prior to passing the gaseous feed stream to a feed manifold of the plurality of manifolds.

2. The cyclical swing adsorption process of claim 1 , further comprising passing the repressurization stream to a feed repressurization manifold.

3. The cyclical swing adsorption process of claim 2 , wherein the pulse flow control mechanism comprises a splitter and a pulsation dampener, wherein the splitter is positioned upstream of the feed manifold and the feed repressurization manifold.

4. The cyclical swing adsorption process of claim 3 , wherein the pulsation dampener comprises a pulsation bottle and a choke tube.

5. The cyclical swing adsorption process of claim 1 , wherein the subsequent swing adsorption process step comprises: performing one or more depressurization steps in the one of the plurality of adsorbent bed units, wherein each depressurization step comprises passing a portion of the gas from the one of the plurality of adsorbent bed units to a location external to the one of a plurality of adsorbent bed units and reduces the pressure within the adsorbent bed unit.

6. The cyclical swing adsorption process of claim 1 , wherein the subsequent swing adsorption process step comprises: performing one or more purge steps in the one of the plurality of adsorbent bed units, wherein each purge step comprises passing a portion of the gas from a location external to the one of a plurality of adsorbent bed units to the one of the plurality of adsorbent bed units.

7. The cyclical swing adsorption process of claim 1 , wherein performing the cyclical swing adsorption process further comprises performing one or more repressurization steps in the one of the plurality of adsorbent bed units, wherein each repressurization step comprises passing a portion of the gaseous feed stream to the one of the plurality of adsorbent bed units to increase the pressure within the one of the plurality of adsorbent bed units.

8. The cyclical swing adsorption process of claim 1 , wherein the cycle is performed in a time interval less than about 90 seconds.

9. The cyclical swing adsorption process of claim 1 , wherein the cycle is performed in a time interval less than about 20 seconds.

10. The cyclical swing adsorption process of claim 1 , wherein the gaseous feed stream is a hydrocarbon containing stream has greater than 0.005 volume percent CO 2 based on the total volume of the gaseous feed stream and an adsorbent material in the adsorbent bed has a higher selectivity to CO 2 as compared to hydrocarbons.

11. The cyclical swing adsorption process of claim 1 , wherein the product stream has greater than 98 volume percent hydrocarbons based on the total volume of the product stream.

12. The cyclical swing adsorption process of claim 1 , wherein the gaseous feed stream is a hydrocarbon containing stream having greater than 20 volume percent CO 2 based on the total volume of the gaseous containing stream.

13. A cyclical swing adsorption system comprising:
a plurality of manifolds, wherein each manifold of the plurality of manifolds is associated with one swing adsorption process step of a plurality of swing adsorption process steps;
a plurality of adsorbent bed units coupled to the plurality of manifolds, each of the adsorbent bed units comprising:
a housing;
an adsorbent material disposed within the housing;
a plurality of valves, wherein at least one of the plurality of valves is associated with one of the plurality of manifolds and is configured to manage fluid flow along a flow path extending between the respective manifold and the adsorbent material;

a pulse flow control mechanism in fluid communication with one of the plurality of manifolds and configured to lessen pulsation within the one of the plurality of manifolds, wherein the pulse flow control mechanism comprises splitter and a pulsation dampener disposed upstream of the plurality of adsorbent bed units, wherein the splitter and pulsation dampener are configured to separate a feed stream into a feed manifold of the plurality of manifolds that is associated with an adsorption step of the plurality of swing adsorption process steps and a feed repressurization manifold the plurality of manifolds that is associated with a feed repressurization step of the plurality of swing adsorption process steps.

14. The cyclical swing adsorption system of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of valves comprise one or more poppet valves.

15. The cyclical swing adsorption system of claim 13 , wherein plurality of manifolds, the plurality of adsorbent bed units and a pulse flow control mechanism are configured to operate at pressures between 0.1 bar absolute (bara) and 100 bara.

16. The cyclical swing adsorption system of claim 13 , wherein the pulsation dampener comprises a pulsation bottle and a choke tube.

17. A cyclical swing adsorption process for removing contaminants from a gaseous feed stream comprising:
performing a cyclical swing adsorption process by:
passing a portion of a gaseous feed stream through one of a plurality of adsorbent bed units during an adsorption step, wherein the one of the plurality of adsorbent bed units is configured to separate one or more contaminants from the portion of the gaseous feed stream to form a product stream;
interrupting the flow of the gaseous feed stream to the one of the plurality of adsorbent bed units; and
removing one or more contaminants from the one of the plurality of adsorbent bed units during a subsequent swing adsorption process step; and

repeating the cyclical swing adsorption process for a subsequent cycle;
wherein each of the plurality of adsorbent bed units are in fluid communication with a plurality of manifolds, wherein one of the plurality of manifolds is in fluid communication with a pulse flow control mechanism configured to lessen pulsation within the one of the plurality of manifolds and wherein the pulse flow control mechanism comprises a controller configured to adjust a ramp rate of one or more of a plurality of poppet valves to reduce pressure fluctuations in the one of the plurality of manifolds, wherein each of the plurality of adsorbent bed units comprise one or more poppet valves from the plurality of poppet valves.

18. The cyclical swing adsorption process of claim 17 , wherein the subsequent swing adsorption process step comprises: performing one or more depres

Assignees

• Ramkumar Shwetha
• Johnson Robert A
• Mon Eduardo
• Fulton John W
• Exxonmobil Upstream Res Co

Inventors

• Ramkumar Shwetha
• Johnson Robert A
• Mon Eduardo
• Fulton John W

Classifications

• B01D2259/41

  using plural beds of the same adsorbent in series · CPC title

• B01D53/0446 Primary

  Means for feeding or distributing gases · CPC title

• B01D53/0473

  Rapid pressure swing adsorption · CPC title

• B01D2257/702

  Hydrocarbons · CPC title

• B01D2257/504

  Carbon dioxide · CPC title