Loading patent…
AssigneeL'Air Liquide, Societe Anonyme pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procedes Georges Claude
InventorsCavagne Patrice, Benedicte Dos Santos, Yann-Pierrick Lemaire
Estimating the term…
An apparatus for separation of air by cryogenic distillation comprising: a system of columns; a first turbine; a warm compressor coupled to the first turbine; a second turbine; a cold compressor coupled to the second turbine; a heat exchanger; means for sending air cooled in the heat exchanger at an intermediate temperature of the heat exchanger to the cold compressor; means for sending expanded air from the second turbine to the system of columns; means for sending air compressed in the cold compressor to an intermediate point of the heat exchanger and then at least in part to the system of columns via a first valve; means for sending air compressed in the cold compressor to the inlet of the first turbine via a second valve without passing through the heat exchanger, wherein the means for sending air compressed in the cold compressor to the inlet of the first turbine via the second valve without passing through the heat exchanger is also connected to the inlet of the first turbine; means for sending a fraction of air cooled in the heat exchanger to an intermediate temperature of the latter to the first turbine; means for sending expanded air from the first turbine to the system of columns; and a bypass line provided with an expansion valve configured to send air from the cold compressor to the system of columns without passing through the heat exchanger.
A method of starting an air separation apparatus using cryogenic distillation, the air separation apparatus comprising a system of columns, a warm compressor, a second turbine coupled to the warm compressor, a cold compressor and a first turbine, the first turbine being coupled to the cold compressor, wherein the method includes the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.