Methods of preparing an impurity-depleted hydrogen stream, methods of analyzing content of an impurity-depleted hydrogen stream, and pressure swing adsorption apparatuses

A method of analyzing content of an impurity-depleted hydrogen stream from a pressure swing adsorption process, the method comprising the steps of:

• providing a hydrogen-containing feed stream to a pressure swing adsorption zone, wherein the hydrogen-containing feed stream further comprises an impurity content comprising methane and carbon monoxide;
• adsorbing methane and carbon monoxide from the hydrogen-containing feed stream in the pressure swing adsorption zone;
• withdrawing the impurity-depleted hydrogen stream from the pressure swing adsorption zone, wherein the impurity-depleted hydrogen stream has a residual methane content and a residual carbon monoxide content;
• and
• sensing the residual methane content of the impurity-depleted hydrogen stream;
• further comprising sensing the residual carbon monoxide content of the impurity-depleted hydrogen stream and further comprising correlating a sensed residual methane content of the impurity-depleted hydrogen stream to a carbon monoxide content of the impurity-depleted hydrogen stream in a control unit to produce a correlated relationship therebetween.

A method of preparing an impurity-depleted hydrogen stream, the method comprising the steps of:

• generating a hydrogen-containing feed stream comprising an impurity content comprising methane and carbon monoxide;
• providing the hydrogen-containing feed stream to a pressure swing adsorption zone comprising a multi-bed adsorption unit, wherein the multi-bed adsorption unit comprises a first adsorption bed and a second adsorption bed;
• adsorbing methane and carbon monoxide from the hydrogen-containing feed stream in the first adsorption bed to produce the impurity-depleted hydrogen stream, wherein the impurity-depleted hydrogen stream has a residual methane content and a residual carbon monoxide content;
• withdrawing a portion of the impurity-depleted hydrogen stream from the first adsorption bed as a purge stream to the second adsorption bed for regenerating the second adsorption bed;
• withdrawing a portion of the impurity-depleted hydrogen stream from the first adsorption bed as a product stream;
• sensing the residual methane content of the purge stream;
• sensing the residual carbon monoxide content of the product stream;
• and
• communicating a measurement of the sensed residual methane content and a measurement of the sensed residual carbon monoxide content to a control unit.