How to reduce the time required to produce liquid argon from air separation in the hydrogen-free argon production process
Thread Content
Some journal articles on cryogenic technology suggest that to reduce the time required to produce liquid argon without the use of hydrogen, the following factors can be considered: 1. Stable distillation conditions in the main tower (with oxygen purity as a key indicator). 2. Make good use of the liquid at the bottom of the crude argon column, which has a high argon content. 3. Adjust the heat load of the crude argon condenser. However, when starting up the plant in cold conditions, the liquid level in the upper column tends to be low; as a result, the liquid at the bottom of the first and second crude argon columns is pumped back into the upper column using liquid pumps, in order to prevent the liquid level there from dropping. This means that the liquid with a high argon content at the bottom of those columns cannot be utilized I wonder, when you restart the air separation plant, how do you manage to reduce the time required to produce liquid argon?
Increase the cooling capacity of the expander; you can also try backflowing liquid argon. However, the duration is usually not long, especially since the argon fraction is difficult to adjust and is greatly affected by the upper column
Additional note: Our plant was built by Linde, using an external compression process (membrane main cooler). During the cold start-up phase, concerns regarding the low liquid level in the upper tower often lead to a situation where, if a chain reaction occurs, process air cannot enter the distillation tower. Therefore, when starting up the plant in cold conditions, in addition to increasing the flow rate of the leveler, the crude argon liquid is also sent back to the upper column.