Method for producing high purity hydrogen
AssigneeAir Products and Chemicals, Inc.
InventorsShubhra Jyoti Bhadra, Jeffrey R. Hufton, Timothy C. Golden, Aaron Raymond Scott, Kamlesh Ghodasara, Maulik R. Shelat, Garret C. Lau
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Abstract
A hydrogen feed stream comprising one or more impurities selected from the group consisting of nitrogen, argon, methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxygen, and water, is purified using a cryogenic temperature swing adsorption (CTSA) process with high overall recovery of hydrogen. The waste gas from regenerating the CTSA may be used to improve the performance of upstream hydrogen processing steps.
Claims20
A process for the purification of a hydrogen feed stream comprising hydrogen and one or more impurities selected from the group consisting of nitrogen, argon, methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and water, the process comprising:
- cooling the hydrogen feed stream to produce a cooled hydrogen stream;
- passing the cooled hydrogen stream through an online adsorber at a cryogenic temperature to adsorb the one or more impurities and produce a pure hydrogen stream and a loaded adsorber;
- and
- passing a regeneration gas stream through the loaded adsorber at a temperature between 0 and 50° C. and ambient pressure to regenerate the loaded adsorber and produce a spent regeneration gas stream enriched in the one or more impurities;
- and
- contacting the pure hydrogen stream with a liquid hydrogen wash stream to produce an ultra-pure hydrogen stream depleted in the one or more impurities and a liquid hydrogen effluent stream enriched in the one or more impurities.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.