Separation of solutes in gaseous solvents

An apparatus for separating from each other at least two solutes dissolved in a gaseous solvent under conditions where a chemical potential of a first solute of the at least two solutes decreases as a density of the gaseous solvent increases, the apparatus comprising:

• a bed of a sorbent in a container;
• means for passing said gaseous solvent containing the at least two solutes through said bed of sorbent in a first direction so as to sorb the first solute from said gaseous solvent onto said bed of sorbent, producing a purified gaseous solvent depleted in said first solute but still containing a second solute;
• means for acting upon a portion of the purified gaseous solvent to increase a solvent capacity of the portion of the purified gaseous solvent for said first solute so as to produce an increased affinity gaseous solvent, wherein the means for acting upon the portion of the purified gaseous solvent is selected from the group consisting of a pressure increasing means and a temperature reducing means;
• and
• means for passing the increased affinity gaseous solvent through said bed of sorbent in a second direction opposite the first direction to desorb said first solute from said bed of sorbent, and dissolve the first solute in the increased affinity gaseous solvent to produce a gaseous solution.

An apparatus for purifying impure steam containing at least one impurity for use under conditions where a chemical potential of the at least one impurity in the impure steam decreases as a density of steam increases, the apparatus comprising:

• a bed of sorbent in a container;
• means for passing said impure steam through said bed of sorbent in a first direction so as to remove by adsorption onto said sorbent the at least one impurity in said impure steam;
• means for acting on a portion of pure water to produce pure steam having an increased density and an increased affinity for said at least one impurity adsorbed onto said bed of sorbent;
• means for passing said pure steam having the increased density and the increased affinity for the at least one impurity through said bed of sorbent in a second direction opposite said first direction to desorb the at least one impurity adsorbed onto said bed of sorbent to produce a second impure steam;
• and
• means for recovering the pure steam from the second impure steam.

An apparatus for separating at least one solute from a gaseous solvent under conditions where a chemical potential of the at least one solute dissolved in the gaseous solvent decreases as a density of the gaseous solute increases, the apparatus comprising:

• a bed of sorbent in a container;
• means for passing the gaseous solvent containing said at least one solute through said bed of sorbent in a first direction so as to sorb said at least one solute from said gaseous solvent onto said bed of sorbent to produce a purified gaseous solvent;
• means for acting upon a liquid solvent to produce a gaseous solvent having an increased density and an increased affinity for the at least one solute;
• means for passing the gaseous solvent having the increased density and the increased affinity for the at least one solute through said bed of sorbent in a second direction opposite the first direction, to desorb said at least one solute from said bed of sorbent to produce a gaseous solution of said at least one solute in said portion of purified gaseous solvent.

An apparatus for separating from each other at least two solutes dissolved in a gaseous solvent under conditions where a chemical potential of a first solute of the at least two solutes decreases as a density of the gaseous solvent increases, the apparatus comprising:

• a bed of a sorbent in a container;
• means for passing said gaseous solvent containing the at least two solutes through said bed of sorbent in a first direction so as to sorb the first solute from said gaseous solvent onto said bed of sorbent, producing a purified gaseous solvent depleted in said first solute but still containing a second solute;
• means for acting upon a liquid solvent to produce a gaseous solvent having an increased density and an affinity for the first solute;
• means for passing the gaseous solvent having the increased density and the increased affinity for the second solute through said bed of sorbent in a second direction opposite the first direction to desorb said first solute from said bed of sorbent, and dissolve the first solute in the increased affinity gaseous solvent to produce a gaseous solution.

An apparatus for purifying impure steam containing at least one impurity for use under conditions where a chemical potential of the at least one impurity in the impure steam decreases as a density of steam increases, the apparatus comprising:

• a bed of sorbent in a container;
• means for passing said impure steam through said bed of sorbent in a first direction so as to remove by adsorption onto said sorbent the at least one impurity in said impure steam and so as to provide a purified steam;
• means for acting on a portion of the purified steam to produce pure steam with an increased affinity for said at least one impurity adsorbed onto said bed of sorbent, wherein the means for acting on the purified steam to produce pure steam with the increased affinity is selected from the group consisting of a temperature reducing means and a pressure increasing means;
• means for passing said increased affinity pure steam through said bed of sorbent in a second direction opposite said first direction to desorb the at least one impurity adsorbed onto said bed of sorbent to produce a second impure steam;
• and
• means for recovering the pure steam from the second impure steam.