Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.

Other

Air Prodcuts and Chemicals, Inc.

Swaminathan Sunder

Patrick Alan Houghton

George Amir Meski

Diwakar Garg

Kenneth William Kovak

Ian Robert Zone

Clive Chalk

Frank Jude Riska

Paul N Dyer

Donn Michael Herron

Mark Robert Pillarella

Robert N Miller

Herbert Charles Klotz

Adam Adrian Brostow

Paul A Tremblay

William Robert Licht

Declan Patrick O'Connor

Douglas L Bennett

Keith Alan Ludwig

John J Kearns

John Louis Griffiths

Raymond J Robey

Edwin C Rogusky

Jonathan Wilson

Vladimir Vasilievich Kuznetsov

Melvyn Roy Collyer

An apparatus for distributing a flow of a liquid descending in an inner space of a packed column includes: a collector to collect the flow of the liquid; a mixer below and vertically spaced apart from the collector to receive and mix the liquid collected; a first conduit to receive and transmit at least part of the liquid from a first sector of the collector to a first zone of the mixer; and a second conduit to receive and transmit at least part of the liquid from a second sector of the collector to a second zone of the mixer. A geometric center of the first sector of the collector is positioned circumferentially away from a geometric center of the first zone of the mixer and/or a geometric center of the collector's second sector is positioned circumferentially away from a geometric center of the mixer's second zone.

Liquid distributor with a mixer

A divided wall exchange column includes a dividing wall strengthened by stiffening members and/or a double wall design to better withstand pressure differentials and minimize temperature differentials. When a double wall is used, cost of manufacture and installation is minimized by reducing the manufacturing tolerances required while providing a design robust in construction, installation, and operation. When structured packing is used, the stiffening members, combined with positioning the layers of packing at preferred angles relative to the dividing wall, result in minimal interference with the heat and/or mass transfer process while minimizing the complexity of manufacture and construction of the packing. Further, by positioning the top layer of structured packing at other preferred angles relative to the dividing wall, a simplified liquid distributor design may be used in the divided wall exchange column while the layers below may still be orientated as described above with all the associated benefits.

Divided wall exchange column

An assembly in an exchange column includes a plurality of generally vertically adjacent layers of structured packing. Each layer includes a plurality of generally horizontally adjacent structured packing elements, each of which has an upper edge and a lower edge. Each layer has a top having a plurality of the upper edges and a bottom having a plurality of the lower edges. In a first layer of packing at least one of the upper edge and the lower edge is modified on at least one element. In a second layer of the packing, located vertically adjacent the first layer, the upper edges and the lower edges are unmodified on substantially all of the elements, whereby one of the unmodified upper edge and the unmodified lower edge on at least one of the elements in the second layer is adjacent one of the modified edges in the first layer.

Alternating conventional and high capacity packing within the same section of an exchange column

A structured packing element has at least one edge adapted to intermesh with an edge of at least one other structured packing element. The structured packing elements may be used in a packed section in an exchange column which includes: a first layer of structured packing including a first structured packing element having an upper edge adapted to intermesh with a generally vertically adjacent lower edge of a second structured packing element; and a second layer of structured packing located above the first layer of structured packing, the second layer including the second structured packing element having the lower edge adapted to intermesh with the generally vertically adjacent upper edge of the first structured packing element. The upper edge of the first structured packing element intermeshes with the lower edge of the second structured packing element.

Structured packing with increased capacity

In a plate-fin exchanger having a plurality of fins disposed between neighboring parting sheets, at least a portion of at least one of the fins has a textured surface. The textured surface is in the form of grooves or fluting formed on or applied to the surface of the fin material used in the plate-fin exchanger.

Plate-fin exchangers with textured surfaces

A process for producing a nitrogen-enriched vapor product from a supply of a nitrogen-rich liquid uses a purifying device and a distillation column having a distillation zone. The process includes the steps of: feeding at least a portion of the supply of the nitrogen-rich liquid to the distillation zone at a first location; feeding a stream of a gas containing nitrogen and at least one contaminant to the purifying device, wherein the gas is cooled by a cryogenic liquid whereby at least a portion of the at least one contaminant condenses, solidifies, or dissolves; eventually feeding at least a portion of the cool gas from the purifying device to the distillation zone at a second location below the first location; withdrawing a stream of the nitrogen-enriched vapor product from the distillation zone; and withdrawing a stream of an oxygen-enriched liquid from the distillation zone.

Nitrogen generation process

A method of installing a structured packing in an exchange column, the structured packing having a surface area density in the range of about 500 m /m to about 675 m /m includes a plurality of corrugated plates disposed in vertically parallel relation. Each plate has at least one aperture and a plurality of regularly spaced and substantially parallel corrugations disposed in crisscrossing relation to the corrugations of an adjacent plate. The apertures have an equivalent diameter of less than about 4 millimeters but greater than about 2 millimeters. The corrugations have a corrugation angle (&agr;) relative to horizontal in the range of about 40&deg; to about 60&deg;. Each corrugation, when approximated to be substantially a triangular cross-section, has an included angle (&bgr;) defined by two sides of the corrugation in the range of about 90&deg; to about 100&deg;. The structured packing is used in exchange columns for exchanging heat and/or mass between a first phase and a second phase in processes such as cryogenic air separation.

Optimal corrugated structured packing

A layer of mixed-resistance structured packing includes: a first structured packing having a first packing resistance; and a second structured packing generally horizontally adjacent the first structured packing, the second structured packing having a second packing resistance different than the first packing resistance. The layer of mixed-resistance structured packing is used in exchange columns for exchanging heat and/or mass between a first phase and a second phase in processes such as cryogenic air separation. Use of the layer of mixed-resistance structured packing reduces HETP (height equivalent to a theoretical plate) in the exchange columns and processes. A method also is provided for assembling the layer of mixed-resistance structured packing in an exchange column.

Mixed-resistance structured packing

A structured packing having a surface area density in the range of about 500 m /m to about 675 m /m includes a plurality of corrugated plates disposed in vertically parallel relation. Each plate has at least one aperture and a plurality of regularly spaced and substantially parallel corrugations disposed in crisscrossing relation to the corrugations of an adjacent plate. The apertures have an equivalent diameter of less than about 4 millimeters but greater than about 2 millimeters. The corrugations have a corrugation angle (&prop;) relative to horizontal in the range of about 40&deg; to about 60&deg;. Each corrugation, when approximated to be substantially a triangular cross-section, has an included angle (&bgr;) defined by two sides of the corrugation in the range of about 90&deg; to about 100&deg;. The structured packing is used in exchange columns for exchanging heat and/or mass between a first phase and a second phase in processes such as cryogenic air separation. A method also is provided for installing the structured packing in an exchange column

Horizontal structured packing utilizing horizontal panels or horizontal corrugated foils arranged in a crisscrossing pattern are disclosed together with methods for manufacturing and assembling the horizontal structured packing in an exchange column. In one embodiment, the structured packing comprises at least one first layer in a generally horizontal first plane and at least one second layer in a generally horizontal second plane below the first layer, each layer having at least one generally horizontal panel in the shape of a polygon having a center. Each panel is substantially uniform in size and of a shape that nests with horizontally adjacent panels, and there are a plurality of vanes disposed inside each panel. At least one of the vanes is at an angle to the horizontal and has a passage between the vane and an adjacent vane. The center of at least one panel in the second layer is horizontally offset from the center of a vertically adjacent panel in the first layer.

Horizontal structured packing

A structured packing is disclosed. The structured packing has a plurality of packing elements stacked together as 'building blocks' to provide the packing for an exchange column. Each packing element comprises a polyhedron (e.g., a cube) having a plurality of edges formed by elongated rods. At least one transfer sheet is disposed within the polyhedron (e.g., a cube), wherein the first end of each transfer sheet connects to a different edge of the polyhedron and the second end of each transfer sheet connects to another edge of the polyhedron. In one embodiment, the intersection of the transfer sheets forms two pyramids within the cube-shaped packing element, the bases of the pyramids being opposite sides of the cube and the apices of the pyramids intersecting substantially at the center of the cube. In the preferred embodiment, at least one side of each pyramid is open and the other sides of the pyramids formed by the intersecting transfer sheets provide flow surfaces within the packing element. The elements allow great flexibility in the manner and relative orientations in which the elements can be packed together, allowing great design freedom to manufacturers and users of exchange columns.

Growing community of inventors

Allentown, PA, United States of America

Swaminathan Sunder