Patent ID: 7101415

Claim:
A continuous method of producing a purified process fluid other than hydrogen or ammonia from a feed stream comprising said process fluid and one or more impurities, said method comprising: (a) providing first and second vessels, each of said vessels containing regenerable purifier material for removing at least one of said impurities from said feed stream; (b) removing at least one of said impurities by passing said feed stream through one or the other of said vessels to provide said purified process fluid, said vessel operating for said removing being maintained at a first temperature during said removing of said at least one of said impurities; and (c) regenerating said purifier material in one of said vessels at a second temperature and during a time when it is not purifying said feed stream and when the other one of said vessels is at least partially concurrently operating to perform said removing, the regenerating including flowing (i) a portion of said purified process fluid from an outlet of said other one of said vessels or (ii) a portion of said feed stream or (iii) a separate source of said process fluid therethrough, wherein said feed stream or said separate source used for regeneration in step (c) is purified prior to step (c) by passing said feed stream or said separate source through a purification container positioned in-line in an inlet line for said feed stream or said separate source to said vessel to be regenerated.