Patent ID: 7641716

Claim:
A pressure swing adsorption process, comprising: separating a gas mixture by absorbing at least one gas component in an adsorbent mass provided within each vessel of a plurality of vessels, wherein the separating step has a single pressure equalization cycle, and further comprises: an adsorption step in which the at least one gas component travels through a first vessel of the plurality of vessels, at least one pressure equalization step in which the first vessel is depressurized from a first, higher pressure to a second lower pressure, and a provide purge step immediately following the pressure equalization step in which the first vessel purges a second vessel of the plurality of vessels of adsorbed impurities and providing a throttling assembly comprising at least two throttling orifices configured to regulate flow between at least two vessels of the plurality of vessels, wherein a standard deviation in a diameter of each of the orifices is maintained at less than 2% of a mean orifice diameter.