The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 15, 1989
Filed:
Oct. 25, 1988
Stephen P DiMartino, Topton, PA (US);
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Allentown, PA (US);
Abstract
The present invention is a continuous vacuum swing adsorption process for the fractionation of a multi-component feed gas mixture containing methane as a primary component and predominantly CO.sub.2 as a secondary component. Mulit-component feed gas is passed through a plurality of adsorption columns containing adsorbent beds which selectively retain the secondary components while the primary component is discharged from each column and collected as product. Carbon dioxide is desorbed from the adsorbent beds by a vacuum assisted internal rinse step wherein a pressurized first adsorption column is operatively connected to an evacuated second adsorption column causing CO.sub.2 and other secondary components to be countercurrently swept out of the first column and into the second column. Vacuum assisted internal rinsing of adsorption columns effectively replaces pump-driven rinse steps resulting in a substantial reduction in process power requirements. Additionally, process vacuum requirements are significantly reduced because an evacuated adsorption column is used as a vacuum source for internally rinsing another adsorption column.