Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.

Versum Materials Us, LLC

Jeffrey Alan Hopkins

David M Nicholas

Rakesh Agrawal

Jianguo Xu

Vladimir Yliy Gershtein

Stephen P DiMartino, Sr

Thomas M Roden

Joseph P Bushinsky

Timothy Edward Conway

Brian M Lindenmuth

Thomas M Booth

Stephen Paul Dimartino

David Michael Nicholas

Donn Michael Herron

Howard C Rowles

Robert M Thorogood

Zbigniew Tadeusz Fidkowski

Ruth Ann Davis

Bruce Kyle Dawson

Steven L Feldman

Roger M McGuinness

Howard Charles Rowles

Joseph Paul Bushinsky

Thomas Michael Roden

An onsite purification plant/system to delivery high and ultra high purity product, such as, process chemicals, industrial and specialty gases to manufacturing processes within the onsite plant turndown ratio from 0% to 100% while preserving the predetermined purity of the supplied substances within a predefined specification range is provided. Preserving liquid/vapor ratio in at least one of the purification means/units ensuring that product purity range stays unchanged is achieved by redirecting the product back into the onsite purification plant/system.

Onsite ultra high purity chemicals or gas purification

The present invention is an improvement to a nitrogen generator enabling the process to efficiently coproduce oxygen with low recovery, typically less than 70% and preferably less than 55%, in addition to the primary product, nitrogen. In the nitrogen generator process, air is distilled in a distillation column system having a higher pressure column and a lower pressure column. The feed air is compressed, treated to remove water and carbon dioxide, cooled to near its dew point and fed to the higher pressure column of the distillation column system. The nitrogen product is produced by removing an overhead vapor stream from at least one of the columns of the distillation column system. At least one oxygen-enriched stream is removed from the lower pressure column. The improvement is characterized in that: (a) the oxygen-enriched stream is removed from the lower pressure column at a location that is at or below the feed to the lower pressure column; (b) feeding the removed oxygen-enriched stream to a supplemental distillation column for separation into an oxygen bottoms and a waste overhead; (c) providing boilup to the supplemental distillation column and (d) removing an oxygen stream (vapor or liquid) from the bottom of the supplemental distillation column as an oxygen product.

Multiple column nitrogen generators with oxygen coproduction

A process is set forth for the cryogenic distillation of an air feed to produce oxygen and argon and is particularly applicable where high purity oxygen and ultra-high purity argon are required and where only moderate argon recovery is required. A key to the present invention is that the argon column is divided into a lower section and an upper section and the impure argon overhead from the lower section is split into three portions. The first portion is further distilled to the desired purity in the top section, the second portion is condensed and returned as reflux to the lower section, and the third portion is removed as an impure argon stream. Such a scheme allows one to reduce the diameter of the argon column's top section, thereby providing a capital cost savings.

Process to produce oxygen and argon using divided argon column

The process of the present invention is a cryogenic air separation process with three important features: (1) at least a portion of a nitrogen-rich liquid from the column system is boosted in pressure before being vaporized and delivered as a product; (2) at least a portion of the feed air is at least partially condensed in indirect heat exchange with the boosted pressure, nitrogen-rich stream; and (3) a portion of the liquid nitrogen condensed from the vapor nitrogen from the top of the higher pressure column is returned to the higher pressure column as reflux with the remaining portion being removed from the column system.

Cryogenic air separation process producing elevated pressure nitrogen by

A process for making high purity argon is disclosed in which crude argon containing less than about 0.8 mol % oxygen is recovered from air in a cryogenic distillation system, the crude argon is purified by removing oxygen in a getter system, and other impurities are removed by cryogenic distillation to yield a high purity argon product. The crude argon purification system is heat integrated with the main cryogenic air separation system. High purity argon can be produced at argon recoveries greater than 90% by utilizing structured packing in at least a portion of the argon sidearm column.

Production of high purity argon

A process is set forth for recovery of nitrogen from a feed gas stream, containing nitrogen and oxygen, using a cryogenic separation wherein a recycle stream having an oxygen content above that of the feed gas stream is recycled separately and independent of the feed gas stream to the cryogenic separation zone without any intervening process step that would decrease the oxygen content of the recycle stream.

Cryogenic process for nitrogen production with oxygen-enriched recycle

Substantially pure hydrogen and high purity carbon monoxide are produced and recovered from a methane-rich gas composition, such as natural gas, by subjecting such composition to steam reforming in a first stage at relatively mild conditions, followed by secondary oxidative reforming of the thus obtained primary reformate effecting conversion of residual methane therein to carbon oxides. The secondary reformate, comprised chiefly of hydrogen, CO, and CO.sub.2, is subjected to a novel sequence of operations for separation of these individual components. CO.sub.2 is first removed by solvent absorption, followed by selective adsorption for separation of CO from the CO.sub.2 -freed gas mixture with attendant recovery of hydrogen product of 98.sup.+ % purity as an unsorbed effluent. Trace to small amounts of undesired carbon monoxide in the thus recovered hydrogen product can be converted by catalytic methanation.

Production of hydrogen and carbon monoxide

A permeator system for separating at least one gaseous component from a feed gas mixture containing at least one other component using a semi-permeable membrane is disclosed which maintains high permeate product purity and desired component recovery during periods of turn-down in capacity. In accordance with the present invention, the permeator system contains a series of flow and pressure sensors and valves which regulate differential pressure across the membrane based upon permeate product demand or feed availability.

Membrane unit turn-down control system

The process of this invention is a hybrid gas separation process which recovers both heavy hydrocarbon and high purity hydrogen products from a gas stream containing a relatively low concentration of hydrogen. The heavy hydrocarbon product may consist of C.sub.2 +, C.sub.3 + and/or C.sub.4 + hydrocarbons. The light hydrocarbons and other light components, such as N.sub.2 and CO, are removed as a light fuel gas stream. After convertional removal of any components which might freeze at low temperatures, the feed gas is combined with recycle gas from the hydrogen purifier and fed to the cryogenic unit.

Process for the recovery of hydrogen/heavy hydrocarbons from

Hydrogen and carbon monoxide are each separately recovered in high yield from a multicomponent gas stream containing these compounds together with carbon dioxide and a zero to minor amount of one or more gaseous components from the group consisting of nitrogen, methane, water vapor and C.sub.2 -C.sub.6 hydrocarbons, by a process wherein the multicomponent gas stream, such as that obtained by steam methane reforming, is initially treated in a pressure swing adsorption unit to remove water and CO.sub.2, and the obtained effluent freed of CO.sub.2 and water is then further subjected to (1) cryogenic fractionation to condense CO and to (2) hydrogen purification by selective adsorption (in either order) to recover high purity carbon monoxide and essentially pure hydrogen. The CO.sub.2 -laden adsorbent is regenerated by purging with a H.sub.2 O and CO.sub.2 -free waste gas stream from the hydrogen purification adsorbent bed or from the cryogenic fractionation or from both of these.

Gas separation process

The present invention involves a process for recovering hydrogen from a feed gas mixture comprising hydrogen and at least one other component. The feed gas mixture is initially separated in a membrane separation unit to produce a hydrogen-rich stream and a hydrogen-lean stream. The hydrogen-lean stream is subsequently treated in a cryogenic separation unit to remove a portion of the non-hydrogen components and produce a hydrogen-enriched stream. The hydrogen-enriched stream from the cryogenic separation unit is recycled and combined with the feed gas mixture to the membrane separation unit.

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Whitehall, PA, United States of America

Jeffrey Alan Hopkins