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:
Jun. 23, 1998
Filed:
Jul. 28, 1997
Jianguo Xu, Fogelsville, PA (US);
Jeffrey A Hopkins, Whitehall, 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 oxygen and argon and is particularly applicable where high purity oxygen and ultra-high purity argon are required and where only moderate argon recovery is required. A key to the present invention is that the argon column is divided into a lower section and an upper section and the impure argon overhead from the lower section is split into three portions. The first portion is further distilled to the desired purity in the top section, the second portion is condensed and returned as reflux to the lower section, and the third portion is removed as an impure argon stream. Such a scheme allows one to reduce the diameter of the argon column's top section, thereby providing a capital cost savings.