Pilot-scale Experiment for Purification of CO from Industrial Tail Gases by Pressure Swing Adsorption

Using pressure swing adsorption （PSA） technology to purify carbon monoxide （CO） discharged from industrial gases is a high-efficiency and economical method. In this article, a four-bed PSA experiment for CO purification was improved and optimized, in which a set of 120 m^3·h^-1 pilot-scale PSA device was developed to purify CO from industrial tail gases, a set of control systems suitable for industry production was developed, and the influences of the operating parameters on CO purification were investigated. The experimental results indicated that the pilot-scale PSA device could produce qualified product gas and get high CO recovery ratio under optimized conditions. The research may provide reliable fundamental data, for industrial scale utilization of CO, from industrial tail gases, and have strong market competitive power and a broad promoted application prospect.

Nitrogen rejection from low quality natural gas by pressure swing adsorption experiments and simulation using dynamic adsorption isotherms

In order to remove N_(2) from low quality natural gas,a mathematical model has been established by Aspen adsorption,using the CH_(4)-selective sorbent silicalite-1 pellets.The dynamic adsorption isotherm was first simulated by breakthrough simulation of a CH_(4)/N_(2) mixture at different adsorption pressures and feed flow rates based on breakthrough experiments.The resulting simulated CH_(4) dynamic adsorption amounts were very close to the experimental data at three different adsorption pressures(100,200,and 300 kPa).Moreover,a single-bed,three-step pressure swing adsorption(PSA)experiment was performed,and the results were in good agreement with the simulated data,further corroborating the accuracy of the gas dynamic adsorption isotherm obtained by the simulation method.Finally,based on the simulated dynamic adsorption isotherm of CH_(4) and N_(2),a four-bed,eight-step PSA process has been designed,which enriched 75%(vol)CH_(4) and 80%(vol)CH_(4) to 95%(vol)and 99%(vol),and provided 99%(vol)recovery.

Progress in Pressure Swing Adsorption Models During the Recent 30 Years

The pressure swing adsorption (PSA) models discussed here are divided into three categories: partialdifferential equation model, electrical analogue model and neural network model. The partial differential equationmodel, including equilibrium and kinetic models, has provided an elementary viewpoint for PSA processes. Usingthe simplest equilibrium models, some influential factors, such as pressurization with product, incomplete purge,beds with dead volume and heat effects, are discussed respectively. With several approximate assumptions i.e.,concentration profile in adsorbent, 'frozen' column, symmetry and heat effects of bed wall, the more complexkinetic models can be simplified to a certain degree at the expense of a limited application. It has also been foundthat the electrical analogue model has great flexibility to handle more realistic PSA processes without any additionalhypothesis.

Comparative study on pressure swing adsorption system for industrial hydrogen and fuel cell hydrogen

In order to improve the design of PSA system for fuel cell hydrogen production,a non-isothermal model of eight-bed PSA hydrogen process with five-component(H_(2)/N_(2)/CH_(4)/CO/CO_(2)=74.59%/0.01%/4.2%/2.5%/18.7%(vol))four-stage pressure equalization was developed in this article.The model adopts a composite adsorption bed of activated carbon and zeolite 5 A.In this article,pressure variation,temperature field and separation performance are stimulated,and also effect of providing purge(PP)differential pressure and the ratio of activated carbon to zeolite 5 A on separation performance in the process of producing industrial hydrogen(CO content in hydrogen is 10μl·L^(-1))and fuel cell hydrogen(CO content is 0.2μl·L^(-1))are compared.The results show that Run 3,when the CO content in hydrogen is 10μl·L^(-1),the hydrogen recovery is 89.8%,and the average flow rate of feed gas is 0.529 mol·s^(-1);When the CO content in hydrogen is 0.2μl·L^(-1),the hydrogen recovery is 85.2%,and the average flow rate of feed gas is 0.43 mol·s^(-1).With the increase of PP differential pressure,hydrogen recovery first increases and then decreases,reaching the maximum when PP differential pressure is 0.263 MPa;With the decrease of the ratio of activated carbon to zeolite 5 A,the hydrogen recovery increases gradually.When the CO content in hydrogen is 0.2μl·L^(-1) the hydrogen recovery increases more obviously,from 83.96%to 86.37%,until the ratio of activated carbon to zeolite 5 A decreases to 1.At the end of PP step,no large amount of CO_(2) in gas or solid phase enters the zeolite 5 A adsorption bed,while when the CO content in hydrogen is 10μl·L^(-1),and the ratio of carbon to zeolite 5 A is less than 1.4,more CO_(2) will enter the zeolite 5 A bed.

Hydrogen Purification Performance of Pressure Swing Adsorption Based on Cu-BTC/zeolite 5A Layered Bed

A pressure swing adsorption (PSA) hydrogen purification model for the four-component gas (H_(2)/CO_(2)/CH_(4)/CO=73/16/8/3 mol%) in a layered bed packed with Cu-BTC and zeolite 5A was established to achieve better hydrogen purification performance.By comparing its simulation results with the experimental data,the adsorption isotherm model was validated and could be used to accurately describe the adsorption process of the gas mixture on the two adsorbents.The breakthrough curves of the mixed gas on the layered bed were studied to verify the correctness of the established simulation models.Based on the validated model,the performance of the PSA system based on the layered bed was carried out,including the hydrogen purity and recovery.The simulation results show that the hydrogen purification system based on the layered bed model can achieve hydrogen purity of 95.469% and hydrogen recovery of 83.219%.Moreover,a parametric study was carried out and its results show that reductions in feed flow rate and adsorption time result in an increase in hydrogen purity and a decrease in hydrogen recovery.A longer equalization time between the two adsorption beds can simultaneously increase the hydrogen purity and recovery.

Integrated vacuum pressure swing adsorption and Rectisol process for CO_(2) capture from underground coal gasification syngas

An integrated vacuum pressure swing adsorption(VPSA) and Rectisol process is proposed for CO_(2) capture from underground coal gasification(UCG) syngas. A ten-bed VPSA process with silica gel adsorbent is firstly designed to pre-separate and capture 74.57% CO_(2) with a CO_(2) purity of 98.35% from UCG syngas(CH_(4)/CO/CO_(2)/H_(2)/N_(2)= 30.77%/6.15%/44.10%/18.46%/0.52%, mole fraction, from Shaar Lake Mine Field,Xinjiang Province, China) with a feed pressure of 3.5 MPa. Subsequently, the Rectisol process is constructed to furtherly remove and capture the residual CO_(2)remained in light product gas from the VPSA process using cryogenic methanol(233.15 K, 100%(mass)) as absorbent. A final purified gas with CO_(2) concentration lower than 3% and a regenerated CO_(2) product with CO_(2) purity higher than 95% were achieved by using the Rectisol process. Comparisons indicate that the energy consumption is deceased from 2.143 MJ·kg^(-1) of the single Rectisol process to 1.008 MJ·kg^(-1) of the integrated VPSA & Rectisol process, which demonstrated that the deployed VPSA was an energy conservation process for CO_(2) capture from UCG syngas. Additionally, the high-value gas(e.g., CH_(4)) loss can be decreased and the effects of key operating parameters on the process performances were detailed.

Study on Pressure Swing Adsorption Removing C_(2)^(+) from Natural Gas as Raw Material for Thermal Chlorination

The experimental investigation demonstrates that a satisfactory result can be expected for pressure swing adsorption (PSA) purification of natural gas as raw material for thermal chlorination process. Using hh-4 molecular sieve as adsorbent for removing C+2 components, the suitable adsorption pressure is 0.4-0.45 MPa, desorption vacuum is 0.08-0.09 MPa and circulation time is 20-21 min.

Analysis of CO₂Pressure Swing Adsorption Simulation by Considering the Transport Phenomena in the Adsorber

This study focused on CO2 separation technology with adsorption. This paper describes the analysis carried out by a CO2 pressure swing adsorption simulation to scale up the absorber. An unsteady one-dimensional balance model was constructed by considering the material, energy, and momentum. In the CO2 breakthrough test, the beginning time and CO2 concentration at outlet of CO2 breakthrough in the calculation were almost equivalent to that of experiment results. The correlation consistency of the calculation results with the analysis model and the experimental results obtained by a bench scale experiment was evaluated. The transport phenomena in the adsorber were investigated at the adsorption, rinse, and desorption steps according to the calculation results. The starting time of CO2 breakthrough obtained by the analysis is equal to that obtained by the adsorption breakthrough experiment. This confirms that the CO2 adsorption, and the temperature and velocity distribution in the adsorber, change as a function of the adsorption, rinse, and desorption steps, respectively. Additionally, the CO2 concentration of the captured gas and the amount of CO2 quantity were 93.4% per day and 2.9 ton/day, respectively. These values are equal to those obtained by the bench scale experiment.

Carbon Dioxide/Methane Separation by Adsorption on Sepiolite

In this work, the use of sepiolite for the removal of carbon dioxide from a carbon dioxide/methane mixture by a pressure swing adsorption （PSA） process has been researched. Adsorption equilibrium and kinetics have been measured in a fixed-bed, and the adsorption equilibrium parameters of carbon dioxide and methane on sepiolite have been obtained. A model based on the LDF approximation has been employed to simulate the fixed-bed kinetics, using the Langmuir equation to describe the adsorption equilibrium isotherm. The functioning of a PSA cycle for separating carbon dioxide/methane mixtures using sepiolite as adsorbent has also been studied. The experimental results were compared with the ones predicted by the model adapted to a PSA system. Methane with purity higher than 97% can be obtained from feeds containing carbon dioxide with concentrations ranging from 34% to 56% with the proposed PSA cycle. These results suggest that sepiolite is an adsorbent with good properties for its employment in a PSA cycle for carbon dioxide removal from landfill gases.

CO_(2) capture by modified clinoptilolite and its regeneration performance

This study focuses on CO_(2) capture by pressure swing adsorption(PSA),with modified clinoptilolite as the adsorbent.Natural clinoptilolite is modified by roasting,by acid pickling,by a combination of acid pickling and roasting,and by ion exchange.Modification by acid pickling-roasting and by ion exchange are found to give the highest CO_(2) adsorption capacities,of 730 mL/g and 876.7 mL/g,respectively.It is found that regeneration of clinoptilolite by a combination of vacuum desorption and heating enables recovery of as much as 89%of its previous CO_(2) adsorption capacity.To examine the CO_(2) adsorption capacity of clinoptilolite when applied to mixed gas,a simulated coking exhaust containing 12%CO_(2) and 4%O_(2) is used,and it is found that ion exchange modified clinoptilolite achieves a CO_(2) removal efficiency of 92.5%.A BET test reveals that acid pickling-roasting and Na^(+) modification enhance the porosity of clinoptilolite,thereby improving its adsorption capacity.This work demonstrates the feasibility of applying modified clinoptilolite as an effective adsorbent for COO_(2)capture,providing a promising tool for dealing with greenhouse gases.

MODELING AND NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF ONBOARD MOLECULAR SIEVE OXYGEN GENERATION SYSTEM

A mathematical model for simulating concentric-bed and other components of molecular sieve oxygen concentrator is established. In the model, the binary Langmuir equilibrium adsorption equation is adopted to describe the adsorption performance of the adsorbent, the linear driving force (LDF) model is used to describe the mass transfer rate, and the thermal effect during adsorption is considered. The finite difference method is used in simulation and comparison. Numerical results have a reasonable agreement with the experimental research.

Temperature influence on macro-mechanics parameter of intact coal sample containing original gas from Baijiao Coal Mine in China

Investigation of temperature effect on mechanical parameters of coal is very important for understanding the mechanical response of coal bed at high temperature.It is especially benefcial for mitigating the thermal-induced disasters occurred in those coal mines suffering from heat hazard.In this work,coal samples,obtained from the No.2442 working face of Baijiao Coal Mine,were subjected to uniaxial compression ranging from 20 to 40℃ with an interval of 5℃.The apparatus used was designed to obtain deformation of a stressed sample,as well as the emission of gases desorbing from coal matrix.The adsorbed gas desorption caused by heating is measured during the entire testing.It is evident that the concentrations of releasing gas(containing methane,carbon dioxide and ethane)slightly rise with increasing temperature.Gas movement observed is closely related to the deformation of coal sample.Both uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus of coal samples tend to reduce with temperature.It reveals that increasing temperature can not only result in thermal expansion of coal,but also lead to desorption of preexisting gas in coal which can in turns harden coal due to shrinks of the coal matrix.Even though desorption of adsorbed gas can contribute to the hardening effect for the heated coal,by comparison to the results,it could be inferred that the softening of coal resulted from thermal expansion still predominates changes in mechanical characters of coal sample with temperature at the range from20 to 40℃.

Economic Comparison of Three Gas Separation Technologies for CO2 Capture from Power Plant Flue Gas

Three gas separation technologies,chemical absorption,membrane separation and pressure swing adsorption,are usually applied for CO2 capture from flue gas in coal-fired power plants.In this work,the costs of the three technologies are analyzed and compared.The cost for chemical absorption is mainly from $30 to $60 per ton(based on CO2 avoided),while the minimum value is $10 per ton(based on CO2 avoided).As for membrane separation and pressure swing adsorption,the costs are $50 to $78 and $40 to $63 per ton(based on CO2 avoided),respectively.Measures are proposed to reduce the cost of the three technologies.For CO2 capture and storage process,the CO2 recovery and purity should be greater than 90%.Based on the cost,recovery,and purity,it seems that chemical absorption is currently the most cost-effective technology for CO2 capture from flue gas from power plants.However,membrane gas separation is the most promising alternative approach in the future,provided that membrane performance is further improved.

Simulation and experiment of six-bed PSA process for air separation with rotating distribution valve

In this work,a six-bed pressure swing adsorption(PSA)process was investigated to produce medical oxygen from air,which uses the combination of six-way rotating distribution valve and PSA and has the main advantage of effectively saving space compared to the traditional two-bed or four-bed PSA process and can obtain greater productivity.The mathematical model of adsorption beds was developed based on the separation mechanism and the interaction among different equipment.Moreover,a pilot-scale device has been constructed to verify the accuracy of mathematical model by experiment.The oxygen product conformed to the medical standard(>93%(vol))with a recovery of over 57%.Some related parameters were also discussed in detail,such as step time,ratio of length to the diameter,flow rate of product.

Deformation transition of intact coal induced by gas injection

Gas migration in coal bed is a multiple-physical process, of which not only includes gas desorption/diffusion through coal matrix and gas Darcy flow through the cleat system, but also results in deformation of solid coal. Especially for enhanced coal bed methane(ECBM) and CO2 capture and sequestration(CCS), gas injection is mainly controlled by the gas diffusivity in the coal matrix and coal permeability.Although the relevant coal permeability models have been frequently developed, how the dual-porosity system of coal affects gas adsorption/diffusion is still poorly understood. In this paper, a series of experiments were carried out in order to investigate deformation evolution of intact coal subjected to hydrostatic pressure of different gases(including pure H2, N2 and CO2) under isotherm injection. In the testing process, the coal strain and injected gas pressure were measured simultaneously. The results show that the pressure of non-adsorptive helium remained unchanged throughout the isothermal injection process, in which the volumetric strain of the coal shrinked firstly and maintained unchanged at lower isobaric pressure. With the injected pressure increasing, the coal volume underwent a transition from shrinking to recovery(still less than initial volume of the coal). In contrast, N2 injection caused the coal to shrink firstly and then recover with decreasing gas pressure. The recovery volume was larger than the initial volume due to adsorption-induced swelling. For the case of CO2 injection, although the stronger adsorption effect could result in swelling of the solid coal, the presence of higher gas pressure appears to contribute the swelling coal to shrink. These results indicate that the evolution of coal deformation is time dependent throughout the migration of injected gas. From the mechanical characteristics of poroelastical materials, distribution of pore pressure within the coal is to vary with the gas injection,during which the pore pressure in the cleats will rapidly increase, in contrast, the pore pressure in the matrix will hysteretically elevate. Such a difference on changes of pore pressure between the cleats and the matrix will contribute to the shrinkage of the matrix as a result of initially greater effective stress.Besides, both gas-adsorption-induced swelling and decreasing effective stress also control the coal deformation transition. This work gives us an insight into investigation on influence of effective stress on coal-gas interaction.

MECHANISM OF BOUNDARY LUBRICATION UNDER POINT CONTACT

The acid number of the mixed solution of 150SN oil and oleic acid characterizes the volume content of oleic acid in the solution, based on which the adsorptive capability of oleic acid is studied on the 45 steel balls and disks. Boundary lubrication tests are carried out on a self designed ball-on-disk machine, The base oil is pure 150SN oil, and oleic acid as additive are added into the lubricant. Disks have surface roughness values （Ra） of 0.8 μn and 0.4 μn. The electrical contact resistance method is used to determine the lubrication status. Hypothesize that the molecular film is monomolecular layer in condensed state and the opposing surfaces are completely separated by molecular film. A boundary lubrication model is established according to experimental results and hypothesizes. The experimental and calculatienal results show that the adsorption of polar molecules on steel surface is the main factor to form the boundary lubrication film. Load and sliding speed contribute little to the friction coefficient of boundary lubrication. The properties of steel surface and additive for the lubricant significantly influence on the characters of boundary lubrication. The smaller the surface roughness value is, the smaller the friction coefficient of the boundary lubrication is.

Artificial neural network based optimization of a six-step two-bed pressure swing adsorption system for hydrogen purification

The pressure swing adsorption(PSA)system is widely applied to separate and purify hydrogen from gaseous mixtures.The extended Langmuir equation fitted from the extended Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm has been used to predict the adsorption isothermal of hydrogen and methane on the zeolite 5A adsorbent bed.A six-step two-bed PSA model for hydrogen purification is developed and validated by comparing its simulation results with other works.The effects of the adsorption pressure,the P/F ratio,the adsorption step time and the pressure equalization time on the performance of the hydrogen purification system are studied.A four-step two-bed PSA model is taken into consideration,and the six-step PSA system shows higher about 13%hydrogen recovery than the four-step PSA system.The performance of the vacuum pressure swing adsorption(VPSA)system is compared with that of the PSA system,the VPSA system shows higher hydrogen purity than the PSA system.Based on the validated PSA model,a dataset has been produced to train the artificial neural network(ANN)model.The effects of the number of neurons in the hidden layer and the number of samples used for training ANN model on the predicted performance of ANN model are investigated.Then,the well-trained ANN model with 6 neurons in the hidden layer is applied to predict the performance of the PSA system for hydrogen purification.Multi-objective optimization of hydrogen purification system is performed based on the trained ANN model.The artificial neural network can be considered as a very effective method for predicting and optimizing the performance of the PSA system for hydrogen purification.

Unresolved CFD-DEM simulation of adsorption process with different particle shapes in radial flow adsorber

The design and operation of radial flow adsorber are crucial in large-scale industrial oxygen production,which necessitate accurate prediction of gas-solid transfer behavior.In this work,a developed Computational Fluid Dynamics-Discrete Element Method(CFD-DEM)model combined with the adsorption model is proposed.The developed CFD-DEM model is validated by comparing simulated results with experimental data and empirical correlation.Subsequently,the effect of particle packing structure and particle shapes on the dynamic adsorption process are analyzed in detail.The results reveal the mechanism of particle packing structure affecting axial velocity distribution,showing that uneven distribution of resistance on the outer flow channel side leads to uneven axial velocity distribution in the bed.Compared to cylindrical adsorbents,the use of spherical adsorbents results in a more uniform axial velocity distribution,consequently reducing bed pressure drop.The study holds significant potential for optimizing gas distribution and improving separation efficiency in future industrial applications.

Effects of micropore structure of activated carbons on the CH_(4)/N_(2) adsorption separation and the enrichment of coal-bed methane

In the process of enriching CH4 from coal-bed methane,the separation of CH_(4)/N_(2)is very difficult to accomplish by an adsorption process due to the similar physico-chemical properties of the two molecules.A series of coconut-shell-based granular activated carbons(GACs)with different pore structures were prepared,which were characterized by different methods.The influence of the pore structure on the separation properties was investigated in detail.The results show that one of the carbons prepared(GAC-3)has high CH4 equilibrium adsorption capacity(3.28 mol·kg–1)at 298 K and equilibrium separation coefficient(3.95).The CH_(4)/N_(2)separation on the GACs is controlled by adsorption equilibrium as compared with the dynamic effect.Taking the specific surface area,for example,the common characterization index of the pore structure is not enough to judge the separation performance of the GACs.However,the microstructure of carbon materials plays a decisive role for CH_(4)/N_(2)separation.According to the pore-structure analysis,the effective pore size for the CH_(4)/N_(2)separation is from 0.4 to 0.9 nm,with the optimum effect occurring in the range of 0.6–0.7 nm,followed by the range of 0.7~0.9 nm.Also,a four-bed vacuum pressure swing adsorption process was adopted to evaluate the performance of GACs for the separation of CH4 from nitrogen.

Bioenergy recovery from landfill gas:A case study in China

Landfill gas(LFG)utilization which means a synergy between environmental protection and bioenergy recovery was investigated in this study.Pressure swing adsorption technology was used in LFG purification,and laboratory experiment,pilot-scale test,and on-site demonstration were carried out in Shenzhen,China.In the laboratory experiment,A-type carbon molecular sieve was selected as the adsorbent by comparison of several other adsorbents.The optimal adsorption pressure and adsorption time were 0.25 MPa and 2 min,respectively,under which the product generation rate was 4.5 m^(3)/h and the methane concentration was above 90%.The process and optimization of the pilot-scale test were also reported in the paper.The product gas was of high quality compared with the National Standard of Compressed Natural Gas as Vehicle Fuel(GB18047-2000),when the air concentration in feed gas was under 10.96%.The demonstration project was composed of a collection system,production system,and utilization system.The drive performance,environmental protection performance,and economic feasibility of the product gas—as alternative fuel in passenger car,truck,and bulldozer—were tested,showing the feasibility technology for LFG utilization.