Purification of crude argon
AssigneeLinde Aktiengesellschaft
InventorEugen Schoenpflug
Life of this patent
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Abstract
For the purification of crude argon, which accumulates partly in liquid form and partly in gaseous form in the head of a crude argon column, most of the crude argon is removed in liquid form (4) and its pressure is increased by use of the hydrostatic potential. Then, the crude argon accumulated in liquid form is evaporated (6), freed of oxygen (9, 10) and fed to a rectification (13). Crude argon accumulated in gaseous form (5) is also reprocessed by being compressed and fed to the evaporated crude argon. The compression is preferably conducted in conjunction with the compression of excess hydrogen recycle gas.
Claims16
A process for purifying crude argon accumulating in the head of a crude argon column partly in liquid form and partly in gaseous form, comprising:
- evaporating, under increased pressure, crude argon accumulated in liquid form;
- compressing crude argon, accumulated in gaseous form, and combining it with said crude argon accumulated in liquid form after evaporation of the latter;
- reacting oxygen contained in the crude argon with hydrogen to form water;
- separating the formed water from the gas mixture;
- cooling the remaining gas mixture;
- and
- separating the cooled gas mixture into a liquid pure argon fraction and a residual gas fraction by rectification.
A process for purifying crude argon accumulating in the head of a crude argon column partly in liquid form and partly in gaseous form, comprising:
- evaporating, under increased pressure, crude argon accumulated in liquid form;
- condensing crude argon, accumulated in gaseous form and combining it with said crude argon accumulated in liquid form before increasing of the pressure;
- reacting oxygen contained in the crude argon with hydrogen to form water;
- separating the formed water from the gas mixture;
- cooling the remaining gas mixture;
- and
- separating the gas mixture into a liquid pure argon fraction and a residual gas fraction by rectification.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.