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US 2013/0000352 A1Published application
Air separation unit and systems incorporating the same
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsMiguel Angel Gonzalez Salazar, Parag Prakash Kulkarni, Gregory Matthew Knott
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system comprising an air separation unit (ASU) is provided. The ASU is configured to produce liquid nitrogen and pressurize to higher pressure using a pump. ASU may be further configured to produce liquid oxygen that can be directly pressurized to be used in required applications. System may further include oxy-fuel combustion system, integrated gas turbines and integrated enhanced oil and/or gas recovery units. Methods of operating the system included.
Claims24
A system, comprising:
- an air separation unit (ASU) comprising:
- an air compression unit configured to produce compressed air at a pressure greater than about 3 bars;
- a heat-exchanger unit configured to receive and cool the compressed air to produce cooled air;
- a first distillation unit configured to receive the cooled air and produce a first output stream comprising liquid-nitrogen;
- and
- a first pump in direct communication with the first distillation unit and configured to pressurize the first output stream to a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure.
3 more elements
A method, comprising:
- compressing air in an air compression unit to a pressure greater than about 3 bars;
- cooling the compressed air by passing through a heat-exchanger unit;
- distilling the cooled air stream in a distillation unit to produce a first stream comprising liquid-nitrogen, and a second stream;
- and
- pressurizing the first stream to a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure.
2 more elements
A system, comprising:
- an ASU comprising:
- an air compression unit configured to produce compressed air at a pressure greater than about 3 bars;
- a heat-exchanger unit configured to receive and cool the compressed air to produce cooled air;
- a first distillation unit configured to receive the cooled air and produce liquid-nitrogen;
- and
- a first pump in direct communication with the first distillation unit and configured to pressurize the liquid-nitrogen to a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure, and
- an oil or gas recovery well configured to receive the liquid-nitrogen and retrieve the oil or gas.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.