Method of producing high purity oxygen
OwnerShiguang LI, Shaojun Zhou +2inventors
InventorsShiguang LI, Shaojun Zhou, Howard S. Meyer, Miao Yu
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Abstract
A highly cost-efficient method and process for producing oxygen from a gaseous mixture such as air results in substantial energy savings compared to conventional methods. The gaseous mixture is fed to a membrane absorber in which oxygen from the gas is absorbed, through a first membrane by an oxygen-absorbing liquid that possesses suitable absorption and desorption properties. The resulting oxygen-rich carrier liquid is fed to a membrane desorber in which oxygen from the liquid is desorbed through a second membrane, suitably with the aid of a vacuum. The oxygen product suitably has greater than 95% purity, or greater than 99% purity.
Claims18
A method of producing oxygen from an oxygen-containing gas comprising the steps of:
- feeding a gas to the first side of a first membrane, the gas including nitrogen and oxygen;
- feeding an oxygen-absorbing solvent to a second side of the first membrane;
- passing the oxygen through the first membrane, from the first side to the second side of the first membrane, where the oxygen is absorbed by the oxygen-absorbing solvent to form an oxygen-rich carrier solution;
- feeding the oxygen-rich carrier solution to a first side of a second membrane;
- passing the oxygen from the oxygen-rich carrier solution through the second membrane, from the first side of the second membrane to a second side of the second membrane;
- and
- recovering the oxygen from the second side of the second membrane.
A method of producing oxygen from an oxygen-containing gas comprising the steps of:
- providing a membrane absorber comprising a first plurality of membrane tubes, each membrane tube having a bore side and a shell side;
- feeding a gas to the bore side of each of the first plurality of membrane tubes, the gas including nitrogen and oxygen;
- feeding an oxygen-absorbing solvent to the shell side of each of the first plurality of membrane tubes;
- passing the oxygen from the bore side to the shell side of each of the first plurality of membrane tubes, where the oxygen is absorbed by the oxygen-absorbing solvent to form an oxygen-rich carrier solution;
- feeding the oxygen-rich carrier solution to a membrane desorber;
- separating the oxygen from the oxygen-rich solution in the membrane desorber;
- and
- recovering the separated oxygen from the membrane desorber.
A method of producing oxygen from an oxygen-containing gas, comprising the steps of:
- providing a first plurality of membrane tubes, each of the first plurality of membrane tubes having a shell side and a bore side;
- providing a second plurality of membrane tubes, each of the second plurality of membrane tubes having a shell side and a bore side;
- feeding a gas to the bore side of each of the first plurality of membrane tubes, the gas including nitrogen and oxygen;
- feeding an oxygen-absorbing solvent to the shell side of each of the first plurality of membrane tubes;
- passing the oxygen from the bore side to the shell side of each of the first plurality of membrane tubes, where the oxygen is absorbed by the oxygen-absorbing solvent to Hum an oxygen-rich earner solution;
- feeding the oxygen-rich carrier solution to the shell side of each of the second plurality of membrane tubes;
- passing the oxygen from the oxygen-rich carrier solution from the shell side to the bore side of each of the second plurality of membrane tubes;
- and
- recovering Use oxygen born the bore side of each of the second plurality of membrane tubes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.