Patent ID: 7497092

Claim:
An integrated process for the compression, cooling, and purification of air in which: a) an adiabatic compressor compresses an air stream to produce a compressed air stream; b) said compressed air stream is used to warm a first pressurized stream at a first pressure and a second pressurized stream at a second pressure, and to produce a first warmed pressurized stream, a second warmed pressurized stream, and a cooled compressed air stream; c) said first warmed pressurized stream is gaseous and is expanded in a turbine; d) at least part of the work produced by said turbine is used to power said adiabatic compressor; e) said cooled compressed air stream is further cooled by a cooling unit by heat exchange with water, and then purified in a purifying unit using a TSA process, using a regeneration gas to regenerate the purifying unit; and f) at least part of said warmed second pressurized stream is used in at least one of the following processes selected from the group consisting of: i) cooling said water to be used in said cooling process; and ii) warming said regeneration gas used to regenerate said purifying unit.