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:
Dec. 30, 1997
Filed:
Aug. 06, 1996
Rakesh Agrawal, Emmaus, PA (US);
Zbigniew Tadeusz Fidkowski, Macungie, PA (US);
Donn Michael Herron, Fogelsville, PA (US);
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Allentown, PA (US);
Abstract
A process is set forth for the cryogenic distillation of an air feed to produce an oxygen product, particularly an oxygen product at moderate purity (80-99%, preferably 85-95%). The process uses an auxiliary low pressure column in addition to the conventional high pressure column and low pressure column. The auxiliary low pressure column, which is preferably operated at the same pressure as the main low pressure column and which is heat integrated with the top of the high pressure column by means of its bottom reboiler/condenser, pretreats the crude liquid oxygen from the bottom of the high pressure column. The resulting overhead vapor stream and bottom stream are subsequently fed to the main low pressure column. Preferably, the bottom stream is fed to the main low pressure column in a state which is at least partially vapor.