Patent ID: 7879138

Claim:
A pressure swing adsorption process for the separation of a feed gas mixture containing two or more components, the process comprising (a) providing a pressure swing adsorption system comprising one or more composite beds, each composite bed comprising adsorbent material disposed in two or more vessels in parallel flow configuration, each vessel having a feed end and a product end; (b) performing cyclic sequential steps comprising (b1) introducing the feed gas mixture into the feed ends of two or more vessels of the composite bed and withdrawing product gas from the product ends of the two or more vessels of the composite bed, (b2) withdrawing gas at decreasing pressure from the feed ends of the two or more vessels of the composite bed, (b3) purging the composite bed by introducing purge gas into the product ends of the two or more vessels of the composite bed and withdrawing purge effluent gas from the feed ends of the two or more vessels of the composite bed, and (b4) introducing gas into the product ends and/or feed ends of the two or more vessels of the composite bed at increasing pressure; and (c) for any of the sequential steps, setting a flow rate or flow rates of one or more gases selected from the group consisting of (c1) gas introduced into the feed end or ends of any of the two or more vessels, (c2) gas introduced into the product end or ends of any of the two or more vessels, (c3) gas withdrawn from the feed end or ends of any of the two or more vessels, and (c4) gas withdrawn from the product end or ends of any of the two or more vessels.