The Boc Group, Inc.

Mark J Andrecovich

Ramachandran Krish Krishnamurthy

Donald L MacLean

Ramakrishnan Ramachandran

Donald P Satchell, Jr

Ravi Kumar Jain

Ravi Kumar

Frank R Fitch

Adeola Florence Ojo

Joseph Paul Naumovitz

Alberto I LaCava

Divyanshu R Acharya

Martin B&uuml;low

Dongmin Shen

Yaping Lu

Shuguang Deng

Shain-Jer Doong

Rudolph J Wolf

Joseph Patriarca

Karen J Wright

Alexander Edmiston

Thomas R Stringer

Air separation units are designed and constructed by selecting two or more modules from libraries containing different module designs. Each library comprises at least two modules with standardized interface point layouts. The standardization of interface points for each module in a given library allows for module interchangeabilty and flexibility in the design and construction of air separation units.

Air separation units

The present invention provides for a multi-composite adsorbent mixture which will remove H O, CO and nitrogen oxides and/or hydrocarbons from a feed gas stream. The improvement lies in the use of a third adsorbent which is selective for nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons or both.

Purification of gases using multi-composite adsorbent

A gas separation process comprising feeding a gaseous mixture comprising at least two components having different adsorption characteristics into an adsorption vessel containing at least one adsorbent material capable of preferentially adsorbing at least one of the gaseous components in the gaseous mixture and subjecting the gaseous mixture to non-cryogenic conditions which enable the preferentially adsorbable gaseous component in the gaseous mixture to adsorb onto the adsorbent material and separate from the non-adsorbed component in the gaseous mixture which pass through the adsorbent vessel wherein at least one adsorbent material in the adsorbent vessel comprises a composite particle having an inner core comprising a non-porous, non-adsorbent material and at least one outer layer comprising the adsorbent material. In another embodiment of the process of the present invention a hollow particulate adsorbent material is utilized.

Composite adsorbent beads for adsorption process

The present invention is directed to a method for producing carbon dioxide and nitrogen from combustion exhaust gas containing less than about 10% oxygen by weight which comprises the steps of (a) treating the exhaust gas to remove particulate matter, (b) compressing the exhaust gas to a pressure in the range from about 25 psia to about 200 psia, (c) purifying the exhaust gas to remove trace contaminants, (d) separating the exhaust gas to produce a carbon dioxide rich fraction and a nitrogen rich fraction, (e) liquifying the carbon dioxide rich fraction and distilling off volatile contaminants to produce pure carbon dioxide, (f) purifying the nitrogen rich fraction to remove contaminants, and (g) cryogenically fractionally distilling the nitrogen rich fraction to produce pure nitrogen. In another embodiment, the invention is directed to a method for producing carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and argon from a combustion exhaust gas. The combustion exhaust gas in the present invention may be obtained from an ammonia plant reformer furnace and the nitrogen produced may be employed as a synthesis gas in the ammonia reactor.

Carbon dioxide production from combustion exhaust gases with nitrogen

The present invention is directed to a method for recovering argon from a feed mixture comprising argon, carbon monoxide, methane, hydrogen, and nitrogen which comprises the steps of (a) passing the feed mixture through a pressure swing adsorption system to remove carbon monoxide, methane and part of the nitrogen thereby producing a fraction containing an increased amount of argon, and (b) passing the argon fraction to a cryogenic fractional distillation system to remove hydrogen and the remaining nitrogen in the fraction as a distillate product and to produce a pure argon product. In a second embodiment, the invention is directed to a method for recovering argon from a feed mixture comprising argon, carbon monoxide, methane, hydrogen, and nitrogen which comprises the steps of (a) passing the feed mixture through a first cryogenic fractional distillation system to remove carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and nitrogen as distillate products and to produce a fraction containing an increased amount of argon, and (b) passing the argon fraction to a second cryogenic fractional distillation system to remove methane and to produce pure argon as a distillate product.

Argon recovery from partial oxidation based ammonia plant purge gases

An improved process for the production of oxides from hydrocarbons by reaction with oxygen, air or a gas enriched in oxygen relative to air, preferably the latter, in the presence of a suitable catalyst. An alkane, e.g. propane, is converted to an alkene in a catalytic dehydrogenator. The product stream is introduced into an oxidation reactor. Product formed therein is recovered in a conventional quench tower. The pressure of the gaseous effluent from the quench tower is raised and it is introduced into an absorber/stripper unit to form a recycle stream containing unreacted alkane and alkene as well as a minor amount of oxygen, typically 1-2 percent by volume, and a waste stream comprising the remainder of the quench tower gaseous phase. The recycle stream enters a selective oxidation unit wherein oxygen is removed, and the product recycled to the dehydrogenator. Flammability of the quench tower gaseous effluent and the waste stream from the absorber/stripper is minimized by assuring that the nonflammability index (NFI) thereof is within certain limits. Desired NFI, related to the total hydrocarbon content, may be achieved by the addition thereto of a gaseous flame suppressor. The gaseous flame suppressor, removed with the absorber/stripper unit waste stream, may advantageously be combusted to provide energy. A PSA unit may remove excess hydrogen from the dehydrogenator effluent. The dehydrogenator may be a multistage dehydrogenator.

Process for the production of oxides

An improved process is provided for the production of nitriles and oxides from hydrocarbons by reaction with oxygen, air or a gas enriched in oxygen relative to air, preferably the latter, and ammonia where a nitrile is desired, in the presence of a suitable catalyst. An alkane, e.g. propane, is converted to an alkene in a catalytic dehydrogenator. The product stream is introduced into an ammoxidation reactor. The product formed therein is recovered in a conventional quench tower. The pressure of the gaseous effluent from the quench tower is raised and it is introduced into an absorber/stripper unit to form a recycle stream containing unreacted alkane and alkene as well as a minor amount of oxygen, typically 1-2 percent by volume, and a waste stream comprising the remainder of the quench tower gaseous phase. The recycle stream is introduced into a selective oxidation unit to remove the oxygen therefrom and then recycled to the dehydrogenator. Flammability of the quench tower gaseous effluent and the waste stream from the absorber/stripper is minimized by assuring that the nonflammability index (NFI) thereof is within certain limits. The desired NFI is related to the total hydrocarbon content of the stream and may be achieved, if required, by the addition thereto of a gaseous flame suppresor. The gaseous flame suppressor is removed with the absorber/stripper unit waste stream which may advantageously be combusted to provide energy for the process. A PSA unit may be utilized to remove excess hydrogen from the dehydrogenator effluent. The dehydrogenator may be a multistage dehydrogenator.

Process for the production of nitriles

Argon and nitrogen are separated from a gaseous stream containing them in combination with oxygen in a three-step process comprising introducing the gaseous stream under pressure to a noncryogenic separator to produce therein a stream enriched in nitrogen and argon, introducing said stream into a cryogenic distillation column to produce a high purity nitrogen product. An argon-rich side stream withdrawn from the cryogenic distillation column is introduced into a pressure swing adsorption unit to provide a crude argon product containing 97 percent or more of argon. The first noncryogenic separator may be a pressure swing adsorption unit or a gas diffusion zone.

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Somerville, NJ, United States of America

Mark J Andrecovich