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:
May. 06, 2008
Filed:
Dec. 22, 2004
Ravi Jain, Bridgewater, NJ (US);
Julian Richard Dean, Burgess Hill, GB;
Robert Bruce Grant, Steyning, GB;
Naum Perelman, Gillette, NJ (US);
Paul Alan Stockman, Hillsborough, NJ (US);
Neil Condon, Worthing, GB;
Andrew John Harpham, Copthorne, GB;
William R. Gerristead, Jr., High Bridge, NJ (US);
Ravi Jain, Bridgewater, NJ (US);
Julian Richard Dean, Burgess Hill, GB;
Robert Bruce Grant, Steyning, GB;
Naum Perelman, Gillette, NJ (US);
Paul Alan Stockman, Hillsborough, NJ (US);
Neil Condon, Worthing, GB;
Andrew John Harpham, Copthorne, GB;
William R. Gerristead, Jr., High Bridge, NJ (US);
The BOC Group plc, , GB;
Abstract
A method is described for recovering a noble gas, such as xenon or krypton, from a first gas mixture comprising a plurality of components, one of which is the noble gas and the others are typically helium and/or nitrogen, argon, and relatively light fluorocarbons. The gas mixture is first conveyed to a gas chromatography column for separating the noble gas from the other components of the gas mixture. As the noble gas travels relatively slowly through the column, the other components are exhausted from the column before the relatively slow noble gas. Following the exhaust of these other components, a purge gas is supplied to the column to flush the noble gas therefrom. A second gas mixture comprising the noble gas and the purge gas is conveyed from the column to a membrane separator to separate the second gas mixture into a noble gas-rich gas stream and a purge gas-rich gas stream, which may be recirculated back to the column for re-use.