Oxygen production by staged mixed conductor membranes
AssigneeAir Products and Chemicals, Inc.
InventorsTerrence F. Ye, Rajagopalan S. Srinivasan, Robert M. Thorogood
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Abstract
High-purity oxygen is recovered from air by a high-temperature ion transport membrane system comprising two or more stages in which each stage operates at a different feed side to permeate side pressure ratio. Operation of the system in multiple stages at controlled pressure ratios produces oxygen at a lower specific power consumption compared with single-stage operation.
Claims31
A process for recovering oxygen from an oxygen-containing gas mixture comprising the steps of:
- (a) compressing said oxygen-containing gas mixture;
- (b) heating the resulting compressed gas mixture of step (a);
- (c) passing the resulting compressed and heated mixture of step (b) into a first membrane separation zone comprising an oxygen-selective ion transport membrane which separates said zone into a feed side and a permeate side, and withdrawing from said zone a first high-purity oxygen permeate stream and a first oxygen-containing non-permeate stream;
- and
- (d) passing said first oxygen-containing non-permeate stream into a second membrane separation zone comprising an oxygen-selective ion transport membrane which separates said zone into a feed side and a permeate side, and withdrawing from said zone a second high-purity oxygen permeate stream and a second oxygen-containing non-permeate stream;
- wherein each of said membrane separation zones operates at a different ratio of feed side pressure to permeate side pressure.
The process of 10 wherein said heating of the resulting compressed stream is accomplished at least in part by passing said stream through an indirect combustor.
A process for recovering oxygen from an oxygen-containing gas mixture comprising the steps of:
- (a) compressing said oxygen-containing gas mixture;
- (b) heating the resulting compressed gas mixture of step (a);
- (c) passing a portion of the resulting compressed and heated mixture of step (b) into a first membrane separation zone comprising an oxygen-selective ion transport membrane which separates said zone into a feed side and a permeate side, and withdrawing from said zone a first high-purity oxygen permeate stream and a first oxygen-containing non-permeate stream;
- and
- (d) passing another portion of the resulting compressed and heated mixture of step (b) into a second membrane separation zone comprising an oxygen-selective ion transport membrane which separates said zone into a feed side and a permeate side, and withdrawing from said zone a second high-purity oxygen permeate stream and a second oxygen-containing non-permeate stream;
- wherein each of said membrane separation zones operates at a different ratio of the feed side pressure to the permeate side pressure.
A process for recovering oxygen from an oxygen-containing gas mixture comprising the steps of:
- (a) compressing said oxygen-containing gas mixture to obtain a first compressed gas stream at a first pressure and a second compressed gas stream at a second pressure;
- (b) heating the resulting compressed gas streams of step (a);
- (c) passing the resulting first compressed and heated gas stream of step (b) into a first membrane separation zone comprising an oxygen-selective ion transport membrane which separates said zone into a feed side and a permeate side, and withdrawing from said zone a first high-purity oxygen permeate stream and a first oxygen-containing non-permeate stream;
- and
- (d) passing the resulting second compressed and heated gas stream of step (b) into a second membrane separation zone comprising an oxygen-selective ion transport membrane which separates said zone into a feed side and a permeate side, and withdrawing from said zone a second high-purity oxygen permeate stream and a second oxygen-containing non-permeate stream;
- wherein each of said membrane separation zones operates at a different ratio of the feed side pressure to the permeate side pressure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.