Patent ID: 6955710

Claim:
A method for supplying the upper airways of at least one person in an aircraft with an oxygen-enriched gas stream, wherein producing said oxygen-enriched stream comprises: i) compressing an oxygen/nitrogen feed mixture to a pressure from about 0.5 to about 5 bar; ii) feeding at least some of the compressed oxygen/nitrogen mixture to at least one adsorber containing adsorbent particles; iii) adsorbing at least some of the nitrogen contained in said oxygen/nitrogen mixture on at least some of said adsorbent particles; iv) producing an oxygen-enriched gas stream; and v) conveying and controlling said oxygen-enriched gas stream directly to the upper airways of at least one person; wherein said adsorbent comprises a faujasite-type zeolite, wherein the adsorbent comprises a faujasite-type zeolite exchanged with at least about 80% lithium cations, wherein said zeolite being in the form of bead particles having a mean size of less than about 0.7 mm, wherein the adsorber containing said adsorbent is subjected to production cycles with a cycle time of less than about 15 seconds, and wherein the output of produced oxygen-enriched gas is in the range of from about 20 and 500 L/min STPD per adsorber.