Process and apparatus for producing a krypton/xenon mixture from air
OwnerFrancois Fuentesinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
According to this process: (a) air is distilled in at least one air distillation apparatus (8) so as to produce a stream of liquid oxygen containing most of the krypton and xenon from the air, and this stream of liquid oxygen is vaporized; (b) a partial oxidation of at least one hydrocarbon is carried out with at least one portion of the gaseous oxygen obtained in step (a), so as to produce a syngas containing at most 0.1 ppm mol of oxygen; and (c) constituents other than krypton and xenon are removed from the syngas.
Claims12
Process for producing a krypton/xenon mixture from air, characterized in that:
- (a) air is distilled in at least one air distillation apparatus (8) so as to produce a stream of liquid oxygen containing most of the krypton and xenon from the air, and this stream of liquid oxygen is vaporized;
- (b) a partial oxidation of at least one hydrocarbon is carried out with at least one portion of the gaseous oxygen obtained in step (a), so as to produce a syngas containing at most 0.1 ppm mol of oxygen;
- and
- (c) constituents other than krypton and xenon are removed from the syngas.
Plant for producing a krypton/xenon mixture from air, characterized in that it comprises:
- an air distillation apparatus (8) that produces a liquid oxygen stream containing most of the krypton and xenon from the air, this apparatus being combined with a reboiler for vaporizing this liquid oxygen stream;
- a partial oxidation reactor (2) fed, on the one hand, with the vaporized oxygen stream and, on the other hand, with a gas that contains at least one hydrocarbon, this reactor producing a syngas containing at most 0.1 ppm mol of oxygen;
- and
- means (3 to 7) for removing constituents other than krypton and xenon from the syngas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.