Discussion on pressure swing adsorption and cryogenic air separation

Since oxygen and argon cannot be effectively separated during pressure swing adsorption oxygen production, the maximum purity of oxygen produced by PSA method can only reach ~95%. As for the threshold between cryogenic and PSA oxygen production methods, the two are not comparable due to differences in purity. Of course, today there are many units for cryogenic oxygen production with a capacity of 90,000 units, and PSA oxygen production units with a capacity of 30,000 units are also in use.

PSA oxygen production can achieve a purity of two nines, but it is not cost-effective. PSA can also be used for large-scale oxygen production; it has low costs, though its purity is inferior to that of deep cryogenic methods

Can PSA be two 9s? ? ? Which company’s oxygen generator? Please advise!

It is not a general-purpose oxygen generator, but a specially designed pressure swing adsorption oxygen production unit; this process can be carried out in two steps. In the first step, the purity level reaches around 95%, after which the product gas enters a stage of further purification, and a purity level of over 99% is generally achieved without any issues. PSA-purified gases can achieve a very high level of purity. As with other engineering projects, the higher the purity, the lower the yield, which makes it less economical; it depends on what trade-offs are made. As for oxygen generators, they are general-purpose devices with a high degree of automation, simple operation, and low energy consumption. Moreover, due to their mass production, their unit cost is very low; for applications where high purity is not required, they are certainly the most cost-effective choice. However, trying to make general-purpose devices as efficient as specialized ones would be pointless. If there is indeed a need in this regard, you can get in touch again

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How does deep purification remove argon?

I’m also very curious to know if there are molecular sieves with superpowers that have emerged ? ?

Generally, the adsorbent used for oxygen production is 5A molecular sieve, which has almost the same effect on oxygen and argon; therefore, it is difficult to separate oxygen from argon. If it isn’t necessary, no effort is usually put into removing argon, as it is a harmless inert gas in most situations. If necessary, argon can also be partially or even largely removed, provided that an adsorbent with an appropriate separation coefficient and suitable adsorption conditions are used. I wasn’t aware of this before, but as long as the customer has a need, by combining theory with a few trial tests, a solution can be found. If industrialization is desired, however, the costs will be quite high.

The argon level is high – doesn’t that mean the content of inert gases is higher? Not suitable for ammonia synthesis.

It is said that for carbon molecular sieves, someone (Xue Jun) has already managed to make them reject argon and accept only oxygen; it is not known whether these have been used in industry, especially in ammonia synthesis. Those who want to know please let me know.