PRESSURE SWING ADSORPTION

Abstract: A pressure-swing adsorption method is characterised by at least one interruption in each of its «purge from» and «purge to» periods, the interruption(s) being used for purging from or purging to, respectively, further bed(s) different from those principally purging or purged in that period. Seven-bed and eight-bed cycles are disclosed, but the method is applicable to other multiple-bed cycles.

Description: PRESSURE SWING ADSORPTION This invention relates to methods of and apparatus for pressure swing adsorption, used in purifying gases and separating gas mixtures. The basic theory of pressure swing adsorption has been known for many years namely that certain adsorbents will selectively adsorb at high pressure one or more components out of a mixture of gases and will then selectively desorb these components at a low pressure. In the industrial environment such systems can only be practical if they can be worked continuously and at high efficiency. The capital cost involved in the addition of further vessels is extremely high and not only the plant as a whole but each element of it must be operated at the greatest possible efficiency. One of the principal problems is how to avoid the losses which would normally occur as a result of the considerable volume of desired product gas trapped in the voids between and inside the adsorbent particles in the beds. The two conventional methods of recovering some of this gas are, first, by pressure equalisation where a first bed at a higher pressure is connected to a second bed at lower pressure and the two are allowed to equalise in pressure, thus saving product gas from the first bed in the second, or, second, by purging between beds, where a first bed at high pressure is allowed to slowly release part of its product gas to a second bed at lower pressure to perform a purging of the second bed. These ideas have been much developed and complex cycles for the operation of multibed adsorber plants have been seen in for example US-A-3176444, US-A-3564816, GB-A-1505957, US-A-3430418 and EP-B-0009217. These use multiple equalisation as a principal method of recovering void space gases. In designing operating cycles for multi-bed systems it is advantageous to have the minimum capital investment and therefore number of adsorbent beds, but to use them in the most efficient way, both in terms of product throughput capacity and in efficiency of recovery of the void space gases. Compromises are inevitable in that for example a greater recovery is yielded by a greater number of equalisations which however requires a larger number of vessels to perform these equalisations; also better use is made of purging gases when the time available for purge is long. These operational difficulties have been overcome to some degree by favor example incorporating additional vessels which have a temporary storage function where essentially pure gas is held originating from a first bed to be later released as at least part of the purge of another bed. Another alternative again in a symmetrical operating cycle, and as shown in GB-A-1505957 results in a purge time of only half to a quarter of the associated adsorption period. Another alternative is to add one or more extra adsorber vessels of different size or operating cycle from the other beds (such as in EP-B-0009217), having different adsorption times, or different adsorption charge, or both. In effect this bed or these beds is or are being used as temporary operating vessels to enable optimisation of the cycles of the remaining beds, whilst accepting the compromises associated with the additional bed, in terms of capital cost. As a necessary consequence of the resultant asymmetry of operation some of the beds may be purged by gases from more than one bed including the auxiliary bed(s). The addition of extra vessels and associated capital equipment without proportional improvement in operating efficiency is obviously undesirable. The present invention realises the ideal of symmetrical cycles for all adsorbers (which may be therefore of identical design operating time and charge) with a resultant optimisation in the capacity of the adsorbers and of the plant as a whole and this is achieved without substantial increase of cost by increasing the degree of utilisation of the gases within the plant. In the present invention the beds have a cycle which includes both of: a period when it purges at least one other bed (referred to as a "purge to" period) this period being interrupted by another operation such as an equalisation with a further bed or a cessation of purging, and a period when it is being purged from at least one other bed (referred to as "purge from") this period being interrupted either by purging from a further bed or by a cessation of purging. As will be seen this alteration in the cycles gives the effect that with a given number of adsorber vessels the designer is more able to resolve the compromises of (a) the number of vessels at any one time in the adsorption step as a proportion of the total number available (b) the number of equalisations and (c) the length of purge time (all of which should be maximised) with (d) the number of holding or non-operating steps (which are minimised or eliminated) and (e) the correct order of adsorption equalisation and purge for every adsorber. Purge times for example in a seven bed plant may be increased to over eighty percent of the adsorbing period (against a maximum of fifty percent available in the system of GB-A-1505957 for example). In a Dreferred sequence of operations in the present invention the "purge to" is twice interrupted by equalisations to different beds respectively; and the purge to" period is preceded by a first equalisation to yet a further bed. In another preferred sequence of operations the "purge from" period is performed with an interruption which is a purging deriving from a bed which at that time is of next hiqher pressure than the bed which first provided the purging gas in that period; during that interruption the gas from the bed which first provided the first purging gas is used for a pressure equalisation step in a further bed; and this bed was immediately precedingly equalised from the bed providing the purging gas during the interruption. A first equalisation during an increase in pressure in the bed which has just been purged may be provided by the pressure from the bed providing the purging gas at the end of the purging period. It can be seen that this system allows a maximum of flexibility of operation according to the number of vessels and the specific response of the adsorbent in relation to the gas being treated. Particular embodiments of the plant and method will now be described by reference to the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a time sequence chart for a seven bed system Figure 2 shows a pressure-time chart for a given bed of a seven bed system Figures 3 and 3b show a valving and ducting arrangement for that system and a modification, respectively, and Figure 4 is a pressure-time chart analogous to Figure 2 but for an eight bed system. EXAMPLE 1 With reference to figures 1, 2 and 3 a seven bed example is shown, in the notation familiar to those acquainted with multibed PSA systems. This will be examined by contrast with the seven bed example of GB-A-1505957. The present invention employs an equal number of vessels and equalisations, however, we obtain an improvement by virtue of an increased purge time (in excess of 80 percent of the 'adsorb' period), as against only 50 percent. This is achieved by allowing vessel A in step 12 to equalise with vessel E, rather than continue purging vessel F. To maintain purging of vessel F during this period we can utilise vessel G. This enables the maximum utilisation of gas at the pressure most appropriate for the respective steps in the respective vessels. Continuation of purging in step 13 is done in this case from vessel A again, although this is merely an example. In a cycle of a different number of vessels or equalisations, etc, purge could be taken from two, three or more different vessels, or indeed from pure product. In this example also, the intermediate purge of vessel F during step 12 from vessel G could in fact be eliminated. The decision as to whether this is advantageous or disadvantageous depends on the pressures and the nature of the impurity transfer from vessel G to vessel F in step 12. If the pressure of vessel G at the end of step 12 is high enough to prevent excessive migration of impurities into bed F, then it can be used as effective purge. However, if the pressures or desorbates from G are detrimental to efficient purging, the purge step 12 could be excluded, and vessel F would simply experience an interrupted purge. If such an interrupted purge is disadvantageous, but vessel G gas cannot be used because of excessive impurities in it, an extra vessel may be brought in, of a much smaller size than the adsorbers. This is fed pure produce gas continuously (so as not to disturb the constant product rate) but during step 12 (and, clearly, 16, 20, 24, 28, 4, 8) is opened to perform the intermediate purge. EXA#1PLE 2 Referring to figure 4 an eight bed example is given. Here the advantage is one more applicable to cases where the purging of adsorbates is easier, since the purge time available is only one-third of the time available for adsorption. However, this system has the advantage of a high throughput capacity, since with a total of only eight vessels, three are utilised at any one step on their adsorption step. The above examples are only two cycles out of many that could be designed using multiple source and/or interrupted purging, and the spirit and scope of this invention is intended to take in any combination of numbers of vessels, equalisations, purges etc. LEGEND FOR FIGURE 1 KEY A = ADSORB ETA/ETB ETC = EQUALISE TO VESSEL A, B ETC. EFA/EFB ETC = EQUALISE FROM VESSEL A, B ETC PTA/PTB ETC = PURGE TO VESSEL A, B ETC PFA/PFB ETC = PURGE FROM VESSEL A, B ETC BD = BLOWDOWN(=COUNTER CURRENT DEPRESSURISE), R = REPRESSURISE EMI8.1 = CONTEMPORANEOUS

Claims: the bed providing the interrupted purging is used, during the said interruption, for pressure equalisation in a yet further bed. 9. Method according to claim 8 wherein the yet further bed was, immediately preceding the said equalisation, pressure equalized from the bed providing the purging during the interruption. 10. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the period (b) is interrupted by a cessation of purging. 11. Method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein an initial increase in pressure in a bed the purging of which has just been ended is given by pressure from the bed providing purging gas at the end of that purge. CLAIMS: 1. Method of pressure-swing adsorption and desorption using a plurality of adsorber beds, wherein the beds have a cycle which includes both of: (a) a period when it purges to at least one other bed, this purging including an interrupted period of purging to one bed, and (b) a period when it is purged from at least one other bed, this purging including an interrupted period of purging from one#bed. 2. Method according to claim 1 wherein the period (a) is interuppted by an equalisation to a further bed. 3. Method according to claim 2 wherein the period (a) is twice interrupted, by equalisations to respectively different further beds. 4. Method according to claim 2 or claim 3 wherein the period (a) is preceded by an equalisation to a yet further bed. 5. Method according to claim 1 wherein the period (a) is interrupted by a cessation of purging. 6. Method according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the period (b) is interrupted by purging from a further bed. 7. Method according to claim 6 wherein the period (b) is interrupted by a purging from a bed which at that time is the bed of a next higher pressure than that providing the interrupted purging. 8. Method according to claim 7 wherein gas from

Inventors: BURGESS, KENNETH HAROLD, GROVER, CLIFFORD JOHN
Applicants: HOWE-BAKER ENGINEERS INC.
Application year: 1985
Main classification: B01D53
IPC codes: B01D53