Preparation of ion exchanged polymer bound nitrogen adsorbent

A high capacity adsorbent may be used for enriching oxygen concentration in an air stream. Such a high capacity adsorbent may be from about 2 to about 3 times lighter relative to the currently available technology. Furthermore, the high capacity adsorbent is readily capable of regeneration after deactivation by water vapor. Unlike current available immobilization technology in which clay binder was used to bind 13X zeolite and additional 10% organic binder was used to immobilize beads, the adsorbents of the present invention may be made using just an organic binder, thereby reducing pore spoilage caused by the clay binder. Further unlike conventional adsorbents, which may use sodium as its cation, the adsorbent of the present invention uses a lithium cation, thereby resulting in enhanced nitrogen adsorption performance.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a high performance oxygen separation material and methods for making the same and, more specifically, to a polymer bound nitrogen adsorbent system for the production of oxygen by adsorbing nitrogen from air.

Gas separation is important to support a variety of commercial, industrial and medical needs. An adsorbent is used in on-board oxygen generation system (OBOGS) applications to remove nitrogen from the air, thereby enriching oxygen concentration in the outlet stream. The nitrogen separated from the air stream is then removed from the system using a higher temperature (temperature-swing adsorption) or a lower pressure (pressure-swing adsorption).

In addition to the use of this type of system on high performance military airplanes, adsorbent-based OBOGS offers a very large improvement for commercial transport systems by replacing the current stored oxygen systems. Pressurized or chemically-bound oxygen storage systems require on-board consumables and therefore have very limited capacity. An adsorbent-based oxygen source enables longer high-altitude emergency operations, thereby extending emergency operational range.

In any aerospace application, component size and weight are crucial factors that determine the success of the technology. Therefore, any system that may be reduced in size or weight, especially in aerospace applications, is a significant achievement.

ReferringFIG. 1, there is shown a conventional method100for producing an immobilized OBOGS adsorbent. Materials, such as zeolite 13X, which have preferential affinities for nitrogen relative to oxygen are used to remove nitrogen and thereby concentrate oxygen. Generally, these materials are produced as small crystallites102, which are bound with clay to form 1 mm beads104as shown in the step indicated by arrow106. The clay binder reduces the available zeolite capacity by dilution and may also further reduce gas access to the zeolite by fouling zeolite pores. The beads104may be immobilized with an organic binder and activated by conventional methods (such as thermal treatment) as shown at arrow108to form an immobilized OBOGS adsorbent110. The organic binder currently in use has a tg (glassy temperature) in the range of 210° C. which is not high enough temperature for complete activation; at least 340° C. is required for complete water removal.

As can be seen, there is a need for a method for making an oxygen separation material that provides higher zeolite concentration by using less binder, thereby reducing the weight necessary to devote to the oxygen separation material. There is also a need to produce this material in a matrix that is stable to a temperature of at least 340° C.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect of the present invention, a method for ion exchange in an adsorbent, the method comprises calcining the adsorbent by thermal treatment to yield a calcined adsorbent; treating the calcined adsorbent with a lithium salt to yield a treated adsorbent; washing the treated adsorbent with an aqueous base to yield a washed adsorbent; air drying the washed adsorbent to yield an air-dried adsorbent; drying the air-dried adsorbent in a vacuum to yield a vacuum-dried adsorbent; and flowing preheated nitrogen through the adsorbent.

In another aspect of the present invention, a method for increasing the oxygen concentration of an air stream, the method comprises preparing an adsorbent by ion exchanging sodium ions in the adsorbent with lithium ions to form an ion-exchanged adsorbent; drying the ion-exchanged adsorbent in a vacuum to form a vacuum-dried adsorbent; further drying the vacuum-dried adsorbent by flowing a preheated stream of nitrogen therethrough; packing the adsorbent into a bed at the appropriate density; and passing the air stream through the bed to yield a resulting air stream having an enhanced oxygen concentration.

In yet another aspect of the present invention, a method for making a polymer bound nitrogen adsorbent, the method comprises binding particles of inorganic adsorbent with an organic polymer to form a bound adsorbent; forming the bound adsorbent into an extrudate; ion-exchanging sodium ions in the extrudate with lithium ions to give an ion-exchanged adsorbent; packing the ion-exchanged adsorbent at the appropriate density to give a packed adsorbent; and activating the packed adsorbent.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Broadly, the present invention provides a high capacity adsorbent for enriching oxygen concentration in an air stream, and method for producing the same, which may be from about 2 to about 3 times lighter relative to the currently available technology. Furthermore, the present invention provides a high capacity adsorbent for enriching oxygen concentration that may be capable of regeneration after deactivation by water vapor. Unlike conventional adsorbents, which use a clay binder, the adsorbents of the present invention may be made using an organic binder, thereby reducing pore spoilage caused by the clay binder. Further unlike conventional adsorbents, which may use sodium as its cation, the adsorbent of the present invention uses a lithium cation, thereby resulting in enhanced performance.

The adsorbents of the present invention may be useful in any situation where oxygen may be necessary or where an enhanced air flow, containing an oxygen concentration above its normal concentration, is necessary. The adsorbent of the present invention may be especially useful in military and commercial aircraft.

Referring toFIG. 2, there is shown a method10for producing an immobilized adsorbent20according to one embodiment of the present invention. Particles12of inorganic adsorbent may be bound using an organic polymer that is stable at high temperature. The inorganic adsorbent may be chosen based on its ability to adsorb a selected element, such as nitrogen, from a gas mixture. In the case of adsorbing nitrogen, the inorganic adsorbent can include zeolite, activated alumina, silica gel, carbon molecular sieves and mixtures thereof. While various zeolites can be useful, zeolite 13X may be used due to its capability for selectively adsorbing nitrogen from air. The term “zeolite 13X” generally refers to zeolite 13X(HP-13X, 13-HP) which is described in UOP Material Safety Data Sheet dated February 1997, published by UOP Inc. as sodium aluminosilicate molecular sieve type 13 hp having less than 60% silicon oxide, less than 40% aluminum oxide, less than 20% sodium oxide, and less than 5% magnesium oxide. As an example, zeolite 13X is manufactured by UOP Inc. under the trade name OXYSIV® 5(Oxy-5).

The resulting mixture of zeolite particles12and organic polymer may be formed into an extrudate16as shown by step1at arrow14. The specific organic polymer used can vary. Examples of useful polymers include polysulfone, polyamide, polyimide, epoxy, polyolefin, polyether, polysiloxane, polyvinyl and polyketone. For example, polyimide may be an organic polymer that results in good mechanical strength over the required temperature range. Optionally, the organic polymer may be combined with a crosslinking or hardening agent that may be activated on heating, while in other cases, no such crosslinking agent is necessary. Where used, the crosslinking agent may be chosen with the choice of polymer in mind, since it is well known to those skilled in the art that certain crosslinkers are used with certain polymers. Thus, for example, various polyfunctional organic amines are frequently used to crosslink epoxy polymers, and diols or polyols are used to crosslink polymeric siloxanes. Methods for making conventional adsorbents may be found in co-owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,585,810 and 6,451,723, herein incorporated by reference.

The extrudate16may be ion exchanged to a lithium form as shown in step2at arrow18ofFIG. 2. This process is described in more detail below with reference toFIG. 4. Once the ion exchange is complete, the Li-exchanged extrudate (not shown) may be pressed to a specific packing density for the particular application. For example, in an OBOGS application, the packing density may be from about 0.50 to about 0.65 g/mL. Finally, the bed may be activated by thermal treatment between about 300 to about 400° C. to yield the immobilized adsorbent20. In particular, about 350° C. may be an adequate thermal activation temperature.

The use of the organic polymer in the above described method to bind and immobilize the 13X zeolite crystals may provide higher nitrogen adsorption capacity relative to clay beads. Organic binder may enable the use of a higher concentration of zeolite relative to clay-bound beds because less organic binder is needed to bind the crystallites. By using this approach, the capacity of the adsorbent may be improved by about 28% due to the availability of more adsorptive sites available for nitrogen to adsorb.

Referring now toFIG. 3, there is shown a flow chart depicting a method40for the lithium-ion exchange of zeolite. In a first step42, the polymer bound nitrogen adsorbent (for example, the extrudate16ofFIG. 2) may be calcined by thermal treatment at a temperature from about 150 to about 400° C. In one embodiment of the present invention, the calcining of the adsorbent may be done at 250° C. for about 24 hours. In step44, the calcined adsorbent may be controlled at a temperature between about 50 to about 100° C. In one embodiment of the present invention, the temperature may be controlled at about 80° C. after loading the calcined adsorbent into a glass jacketed column with water circulating through the jacket. In step46, the temperature controlled calcined adsorbent may be treated with a lithium salt solution having a concentration from about 0.5 to about 5M. In one embodiment of the present invention, the temperature controlled calcined adsorbent may be treated with1M to3M lithium chloride. This step46may be continued for a sufficient time to increase the solid-phase concentration of lithium cation to a level of three to four times the solid-phase concentration of sodium cation present in the adsorbent. The cation measurement may be made by techniques known to one skilled in the polymer arts.

Once the appropriate lithium ion concentration is reached, the adsorbent may be washed at step48with basic deionized water at pH 9 (NaOH(aq)) until non-adsorbed (non-cation exchanged) lithium residue is washed away completely. At step50, the washed ion-exchanged adsorbent may be air dried from about 15 minutes to about 10 hours. In one embodiment of the present invention, the ion-exchanged adsorbent may be air dried for about 2 hours.

At step52, the air dried adsorbent may be dried in a vacuum (1-5 torr) oven at between 50 and 200° C. from about 15 minutes to about 48 hours. In one embodiment of the present invention, the air dried adsorbent may be dried in a vacuum oven at about 110° C. for about 20 hours. About 50% of the water may be removed at 110° C. under vacuum, yield a partially activated adsorbent. Increasing the temperature at or above 300° C. may soften the polymer and may collapse pores as water exits, thus decreasing the nitrogen adsorbent efficiency.

At step54, the partially activated adsorbent may be packed into a bed at the appropriate density (in an OBOGS application, for example, the packing density may be from about 0.50 to about 0.65 g/mL). Finally at step56, preheated nitrogen may be flowed through the bed with a high linear velocity. For example, the preheated nitrogen may flow through the bed at a linear velocity from about 60 to about 90 feet/minute. In one embodiment of the present invention, the preheated nitrogen has a temperature of about 300° C. In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, the preheated nitrogen may be ramped from about the same temperature used in the vacuum oven of step 52, to about 300° C. over a period of about 15 minutes to about 4 hours. The preheated nitrogen may flow through the bed for about 20 hours, or at least until all of the water is removed from the bed.

Referring toFIG. 4, there is shown a graph depicting particular efficiencies of an immobilized OBOGS adsorbent of the present invention versus a conventional adsorbent using a clay binder. Throughout all pressure ranges, the graph clearly shows that the system of the present invention, using an organic binder, has superior nitrogen loading as compared to conventional adsorbents made with a clay binder. Furthermore, referring toFIG. 5, there is shown a graph depicting particular efficiencies of an immobilized OBOGS adsorbent of the present invention versus a conventional adsorbent using a sodium form of the zeolite as the adsorbent. As in the previous graph, this graph shows, throughout all pressure ranges, that the system of the present invention has superior nitrogen loading efficiency when compared to a conventional adsorbent using sodium-ion zeolite. The adsorbent used for this chart was made according to the methods of the present invention, as described above, resulting in about 99% Li exchange.

When the efficiencies shown inFIGS. 4 and 5are combined into a single adsorbent (that is, an adsorbent using an organic binder and the lithium form of zeolite), the resulting adsorbent is far superior to conventional adsorbents. This may result in an increased nitrogen capacity by a factor of about three compared to the conventional technologies.