System and method for co-producing ultra-high purity oxygen and ultra-high purity hydrogen
OwnerBrian R. Kromer, Daniel Palaniswamy Otteinventors
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Abstract
A system and method for co-producing ultra-high purity oxygen and ultra-high purity hydrogen from a water electrolysis unit is provided. The presently disclosed system and method includes upgrading the crude oxygen stream coming from the water electrolysis unit by means of a small, stand-alone cryogenic distillation system wherein the refrigeration for such cryogenic distillation system is supplied by a nitrogen recycle refrigeration loop.
Claims19
A system for co-producing an ultra-high purity oxygen product stream and an ultra-high purity hydrogen product stream from a stream of feed water comprising:
- a water pre-purification subsystem configured to receive the stream of feed water and produce a purified, de-ionized water stream;
- one or more electrolysis units configured to receive the purified, de-ionized water stream and produce one or more crude oxygen streams and one or more crude hydrogen streams;
- an oxygen purification subsystem comprising a distillation column arrangement configured to separate argon and other impurities from the one or more crude oxygen streams and produce the ultra-high purity oxygen product stream;
- and
- a hydrogen purification subsystem configured to receive the one or more crude hydrogen streams and produce the ultra-high purity hydrogen product, the hydrogen purification subsystem comprising a deoxo catalyst for removing oxygen impurities from the one or more crude hydrogen streams to produce a hydrogen-rich effluent stream substantially free of oxygen and a hydrogen dryer configured for drying the hydrogen-rich effluent stream to produce the ultra-high purity hydrogen product.
A method for co-producing an ultra-high purity oxygen product stream and an ultra-high purity hydrogen product stream from a stream of feed water comprising:
- purifying the stream of feed water to produce a purified, de-ionized water stream;
- directing the purified, de-ionized water stream to one or more electrolysis units configured to produce one or more crude oxygen streams and one or more crude hydrogen streams;
- separating argon and other impurities from the one or more crude oxygen streams in a distillation column arrangement configured to produce the ultra-high purity oxygen stream;
- removing oxygen impurities from the one or more crude hydrogen streams using a catalyst to produce a hydrogen-rich effluent stream substantially free of oxygen;
- and
- drying the hydrogen-rich effluent stream to produce the ultra-high purity hydrogen product stream.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.