Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.

Mohammad Ali Kalbassi

Timothy Christopher Golden

Christopher James Raiswell

Ian Robert Zone

William Paul Schmidt

Roger Dean Whitley

William Jack Casteel, Jr

Steven R Auvil

Robert Quinn

Fred William Taylor

Shubhra Jyoti Bhadra

Andrew David Wright

Erin Marie Sorensen

Paul Anthony Wright

Phillip Andrew Armstrong

Daniel Patrick Zwilling

Magdalena M Lozinska

Derek Miller

Christine Waweru

William Jack Casteel

Paul A Wright

Paul Higginbotham

Vincent White

Jeffrey Raymond Hufton

Wilbur C Kratz

Declan Patrick O'Connor

Kenneth William Kovak

Stephen Clyde Tentarelli

Nasim Ul Hassan Malik

Garret Chi-Ho Lau

Nasim Hassan Malik

Stephen John Gibbon

Garret C Lau

Elizabeth Helen Salter

Brian Waldie

Jonathan Wilson

Michaela Pollock

Christopher Suggitt

Derek Alan Prichett

Roy Adolph Meikle

April Emma Louise O'Meara

Jon Louis Mogan

Christopher Richard Haben

Raymond Elliott Sacks

Elliott L Bruce

Anthony Finot

Ann Marie Botelho

Garrett Chi-Ho Lau

Christopher Timothy Golden

Steven Ray Auvil

Paula A Wright

William Jack Casteel Jr

Timothy Christoper Golden

Disclosed herein are novel RHO zeolites useful as kinetically selective adsorbents for oxygen and/or nitrogen. The adsorbents can be used in pressure swing adsorption processes for selectively adsorbing oxygen and/or nitrogen from feed streams such as an air stream or crude argon stream. Also disclosed are novel methods of preparing RHO zeolites, including in particular mixed-cation RHO zeolites.

RHO adsorbent compositions, methods of making and using them

Disclosed herein are new processes for adsorbing oxygen using adsorbent compositions comprising RHO zeolites kinetically selective for oxygen. The RHO zeolites can be used in pressure swing adsorption processes for separating oxygen from oxygen containing streams, such as for, but not limited to, purifying a crude argon feed stream or separating oxygen from an air feed stream.

Processes using improved RHO adsorbent compositions

The present invention relates to a temperature enhanced pressure swing adsorption (TEPSA) process for removing at least two components including a less strongly adsorbed component and a more strongly adsorbed component from a gas mixture, said process comprising using one single heater and at least two adsorber vessels, in each of which repeated cycles comprising an adsorption phase and subsequent regeneration phases.

Heater arrangement for TEPSA system

A radial U-flow adsorption unit for air purification in a TSA process, having a gas outlet at one end and at least one gas inlet at the side, preferably at the same end of the unit as the gas outlet. The simpler design of the unit facilitates manufacture, installation and transport, and reduces the capital and operating costs.

Radial flow adsorber 'U' configuration

Process of reducing water, COand NO in feed air, which: a first adsorbent such as alumina (25-40% volume) and a second adsorbent such as X zeolite (60-75% volume) are used; the online time of the adsorbent is determined by determining the concentration measured by an analyzer for COconcentration at a position within the length of the second adsorbent when a maximum level of NO is simultaneously obtained at the downstream end of the second adsorbent in the feed direction, wherein the online time is the time taken from commencing passing the feed air to the first and second adsorbents to the measurement by the analyzer of the determined concentration of CO; at least the second adsorbent is regenerated by heated regeneration gas at a temperature of 140&#xb0; C.-220&#xb0; C.; and the molar ratio of the regenerating gas to feed air supplied during one iteration of the cycle is 0.08-0.5.

Purification of air

Hydrogen and carbon monoxide impurities are removed from a dry gas comprising the impurities, wherein the dry gas is at least substantially free of carbon dioxide, by passing the dry gas with sufficient residence time, e.g. at least 1.5 s, through a layer of catalyst comprising a mixture of manganese oxide and copper oxide. The use of expensive noble metal catalysts to remove hydrogen may thereby be avoided. In addition, regeneration of the catalyst using oxygen-containing regeneration gas does not reduce the effectiveness of the catalyst.

Removal of hydrogen and carbon monoxide impurities from gas streams

Reduction of water, COand NO in an air stream comprising: passing said air stream at a feed temperature through a first adsorbent, whose Henry's Law selectivity for CO/NO is at least 12.5, and a second adsorbent, whose Henry's Law constant for COis less than 1020 mmol/g/atom and whose Henry's Law selectivity for CO/NO is at most 5; and passing a heated regenerating gas at a temperature which is between 20&#xb0; C. and 80&#xb0; C. to at least the second adsorbent, and passing a second regenerating gas at a temperature less than the temperature of the heated regenerating gas to the first and second adsorbents in a direction opposite to the feed direction; the second adsorbent occupying from 25% to 40% of the total volume of the adsorbents, and the temperature of the heated regenerating gas being 10&#xb0; C. to 60&#xb0; C. higher than the feed temperature.

The concentration of adsorbate in the feed gas to an on-stream bed of a cyclical swing adsorption process is monitored and the data processed to predict the time required to complete the on-stream mode of that bed and the purge flow rate and/or other regeneration mode operating condition of the concurrently off-stream bed is modified in response to changes in said predicted time whereby the regeneration mode of the off-steam bed is completed at the same time as the on-stream mode of the concurrent on-stream bed.

Cyclical swing adsorption processes

Base treated aluminas exhibit improved COcapacity over untreated aluminas. Base treated aluminas prepared by physically mixing alumina and base during forming have (1) a higher surface area, (2) less hydrothermal aging, (3) improved COcapacity and (4) lower cost than base treated aluminas produced by aqueous impregnation. A method for removing at least COand water from a gas stream includes providing an adsorbent formed from a process comprising physically mixing activated alumina solids and solid salts of alkali metals, alkaline earth metals or ammonium ion; and contacting the gas stream with the adsorbent.

[object Object]

At least one section of structured packing where the length of the section is about 1 m to about 6 m; and where the specific surface area of the structured packing of the section is greater than 500 m/m, is used in a vapour/liquid contact column operating in locations where environmental conditions adversely affect steady state operation of the column to reduce maldistribution of liquid in the column under motion. The structured packing section has particular application offshore on a buoyant platform where tilt of the column out of vertical alignment due to the rolling motion of the platform can significantly affect the efficiency of the column.

Structured packing and use thereof

An improved control scheme is set forth for an adsorption process that removes water and carbon dioxide (CO) from a feed gas using a hybrid of both temperature swing (i.e. TSA) and pressure swing (PSA) to regenerate the adsorbent. The control scheme comprises adjusting the quantity of heat to be provided by the regeneration gas as a function of temperature data taken within a strategic portion of the water selective adsorbent zone. The strategic portion corresponds to the location for the desired transition from regeneration by temperature swing, to regeneration by pressure swing. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, said quantity of regeneration heat is also adjusted as a function of the water content of the feed gas.

Control scheme for hybrid PSA/TSA systems

An improved thermal swing adsorption process is set forth which addresses the problem of water ingress into the adsorbent by periodically heating the adsorbent to a temperature greater than the temperature used in the normal regeneration cycle.

Periodic high temperature regeneration of thermal swing adsorption systems

An adsorber vessel for use in the adsorption of a component from a gas and subsequent regeneration by thermally induced desorption of the component comprises an inlet for regeneration gas having an inlet nozzle containing at least one heater element, and an outlet for regeneration gas, the inlet and outlet for regeneration being separated by a flow path including a flow chamber containing a body of adsorbent, and wherein the body of adsorbent has a first end which is adjacent the inlet for regeneration gas and a second end which is remote from the inlet for regeneration gas, and the or each heater element is located so as not to penetrate through the first end of the body of adsorbent.

Apparatus for use in regenerating adsorbent

A process and an apparatus related to the reduction of the level of a component in a feed gas such as air involving passing the gas to at least three parallel thermal swing adsorption zones charged with an adsorbent and operating according to an adsorption cycle, wherein the cycle of each zone is phased with respect to that of the other zones so that at any point during the cycle, the number of zones in the adsorption step is greater than the number of zones not in the adsorption step.

Process and apparatus for treating a feed gas

Liquid is distributed substantially uniformly in a liquid-vapour separation columnlocated on an off-shore floating platform using a liquid distributorcharacterised in that (i) the distance between the two apertures that are furthest apart in the or each secondary distributor is such that the liquid distributor provides, at each angle of tilt, a standard deviation of liquid flow rates through the apertures of the or each secondary distributor that is less than a first predetermined maximum for all angles of tilt; and (ii) the difference in flow rate between the aperture having maximum liquid flow and the aperture having minimum liquid flow in the or each secondary distributor at each angle of tilt is less than a second predetermined maximum for all angles of tilt.

Liquid distributor

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Weybridge, United Kingdom

Mohammad Ali Kalbassi