Patent ID: 7749306

Claim:
A method of restarting a temperature swing adsorption (TSA) apparatus which purifies feed air for a cryogenic air separation plant, comprising: providing a regeneration process including measuring a temperature of a purge gas which flows out from a first adsorption column to determine when a purge gas temperature reaches a peak temperature in the regeneration process, stopping the TSA apparatus when the purge gas temperature reaches the peak temperature; sealing by closing, at the time of stopping the TSA apparatus, an entrance valve, an exit valve, and an atmosphere-releasing valve in the first adsorption column during the regeneration process; sealing by closing an entrance valve and an exit valve and opening an atmosphere-releasing valve in a second adsorption column during an adsorption process, so as to release a gas in the opposite direction to feed air flow, followed by closing the atmosphere-releasing valve; pressurizing, just before a restart, the second adsorption column with the feed air to a pressure necessary for the adsorption process; restarting the TSA apparatus; and performing, after the restart, the regeneration process in the first adsorption column and the adsorption process in the second adsorption column continuously from the time point of stopping the TSA apparatus, wherein the stop of the TSA apparatus includes an urgent stop and a planned stop.