EP0218741B1 - Procédé pour la préparation d'un concentré crypton-xénon et un produit gazeux d'oxygène - Google Patents

Procédé pour la préparation d'un concentré crypton-xénon et un produit gazeux d'oxygène Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0218741B1
EP0218741B1 EP85113014A EP85113014A EP0218741B1 EP 0218741 B1 EP0218741 B1 EP 0218741B1 EP 85113014 A EP85113014 A EP 85113014A EP 85113014 A EP85113014 A EP 85113014A EP 0218741 B1 EP0218741 B1 EP 0218741B1
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EP
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Prior art keywords
liquid
krypton
column
xenon
vapor
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Expired
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EP85113014A
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German (de)
English (en)
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EP0218741A1 (fr
Inventor
Harry Cheung
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Union Carbide Corp
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Union Carbide Corp
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Priority to US06/641,280 priority Critical patent/US4568528A/en
Application filed by Union Carbide Corp filed Critical Union Carbide Corp
Priority to DE8585113014T priority patent/DE3574770D1/de
Priority to EP85113014A priority patent/EP0218741B1/fr
Priority to AT85113014T priority patent/ATE48691T1/de
Publication of EP0218741A1 publication Critical patent/EP0218741A1/fr
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Publication of EP0218741B1 publication Critical patent/EP0218741B1/fr
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    • FMECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F25REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
    • F25JLIQUEFACTION, SOLIDIFICATION OR SEPARATION OF GASES OR GASEOUS OR LIQUEFIED GASEOUS MIXTURES BY PRESSURE AND COLD TREATMENT OR BY BRINGING THEM INTO THE SUPERCRITICAL STATE
    • F25J3/00Processes or apparatus for separating the constituents of gaseous or liquefied gaseous mixtures involving the use of liquefaction or solidification
    • F25J3/02Processes or apparatus for separating the constituents of gaseous or liquefied gaseous mixtures involving the use of liquefaction or solidification by rectification, i.e. by continuous interchange of heat and material between a vapour stream and a liquid stream
    • F25J3/04Processes or apparatus for separating the constituents of gaseous or liquefied gaseous mixtures involving the use of liquefaction or solidification by rectification, i.e. by continuous interchange of heat and material between a vapour stream and a liquid stream for air
    • F25J3/04406Processes or apparatus for separating the constituents of gaseous or liquefied gaseous mixtures involving the use of liquefaction or solidification by rectification, i.e. by continuous interchange of heat and material between a vapour stream and a liquid stream for air using a dual pressure main column system
    • F25J3/04412Processes or apparatus for separating the constituents of gaseous or liquefied gaseous mixtures involving the use of liquefaction or solidification by rectification, i.e. by continuous interchange of heat and material between a vapour stream and a liquid stream for air using a dual pressure main column system in a classical double column flowsheet, i.e. with thermal coupling by a main reboiler-condenser in the bottom of low pressure respectively top of high pressure column
    • FMECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F25REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
    • F25JLIQUEFACTION, SOLIDIFICATION OR SEPARATION OF GASES OR GASEOUS OR LIQUEFIED GASEOUS MIXTURES BY PRESSURE AND COLD TREATMENT OR BY BRINGING THEM INTO THE SUPERCRITICAL STATE
    • F25J3/00Processes or apparatus for separating the constituents of gaseous or liquefied gaseous mixtures involving the use of liquefaction or solidification
    • F25J3/02Processes or apparatus for separating the constituents of gaseous or liquefied gaseous mixtures involving the use of liquefaction or solidification by rectification, i.e. by continuous interchange of heat and material between a vapour stream and a liquid stream
    • F25J3/04Processes or apparatus for separating the constituents of gaseous or liquefied gaseous mixtures involving the use of liquefaction or solidification by rectification, i.e. by continuous interchange of heat and material between a vapour stream and a liquid stream for air
    • F25J3/04248Generation of cold for compensating heat leaks or liquid production, e.g. by Joule-Thompson expansion
    • F25J3/04284Generation of cold for compensating heat leaks or liquid production, e.g. by Joule-Thompson expansion using internal refrigeration by open-loop gas work expansion, e.g. of intermediate or oxygen enriched (waste-)streams
    • F25J3/0429Generation of cold for compensating heat leaks or liquid production, e.g. by Joule-Thompson expansion using internal refrigeration by open-loop gas work expansion, e.g. of intermediate or oxygen enriched (waste-)streams of feed air, e.g. used as waste or product air or expanded into an auxiliary column
    • F25J3/04303Lachmann expansion, i.e. expanded into oxygen producing or low pressure column
    • FMECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F25REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
    • F25JLIQUEFACTION, SOLIDIFICATION OR SEPARATION OF GASES OR GASEOUS OR LIQUEFIED GASEOUS MIXTURES BY PRESSURE AND COLD TREATMENT OR BY BRINGING THEM INTO THE SUPERCRITICAL STATE
    • F25J3/00Processes or apparatus for separating the constituents of gaseous or liquefied gaseous mixtures involving the use of liquefaction or solidification
    • F25J3/02Processes or apparatus for separating the constituents of gaseous or liquefied gaseous mixtures involving the use of liquefaction or solidification by rectification, i.e. by continuous interchange of heat and material between a vapour stream and a liquid stream
    • F25J3/04Processes or apparatus for separating the constituents of gaseous or liquefied gaseous mixtures involving the use of liquefaction or solidification by rectification, i.e. by continuous interchange of heat and material between a vapour stream and a liquid stream for air
    • F25J3/04642Recovering noble gases from air
    • F25J3/04745Krypton and/or Xenon
    • FMECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F25REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
    • F25JLIQUEFACTION, SOLIDIFICATION OR SEPARATION OF GASES OR GASEOUS OR LIQUEFIED GASEOUS MIXTURES BY PRESSURE AND COLD TREATMENT OR BY BRINGING THEM INTO THE SUPERCRITICAL STATE
    • F25J2200/00Processes or apparatus using separation by rectification
    • F25J2200/34Processes or apparatus using separation by rectification using a side column fed by a stream from the low pressure column
    • FMECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F25REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
    • F25JLIQUEFACTION, SOLIDIFICATION OR SEPARATION OF GASES OR GASEOUS OR LIQUEFIED GASEOUS MIXTURES BY PRESSURE AND COLD TREATMENT OR BY BRINGING THEM INTO THE SUPERCRITICAL STATE
    • F25J2200/00Processes or apparatus using separation by rectification
    • F25J2200/90Details relating to column internals, e.g. structured packing, gas or liquid distribution
    • F25J2200/94Details relating to the withdrawal point
    • FMECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F25REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
    • F25JLIQUEFACTION, SOLIDIFICATION OR SEPARATION OF GASES OR GASEOUS OR LIQUEFIED GASEOUS MIXTURES BY PRESSURE AND COLD TREATMENT OR BY BRINGING THEM INTO THE SUPERCRITICAL STATE
    • F25J2205/00Processes or apparatus using other separation and/or other processing means
    • F25J2205/30Processes or apparatus using other separation and/or other processing means using a washing, e.g. "scrubbing" or bubble column for purification purposes
    • FMECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F25REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
    • F25JLIQUEFACTION, SOLIDIFICATION OR SEPARATION OF GASES OR GASEOUS OR LIQUEFIED GASEOUS MIXTURES BY PRESSURE AND COLD TREATMENT OR BY BRINGING THEM INTO THE SUPERCRITICAL STATE
    • F25J2250/00Details related to the use of reboiler-condensers
    • F25J2250/20Boiler-condenser with multiple exchanger cores in parallel or with multiple re-boiling or condensing streams

Definitions

  • This invention relates to the production of a krypton-xenon concentrate and is an improvement whereby the krypton-xenon concentrate is produced at high efficiency and a gaseous oxygen product substantially free of rare gases is also produced.
  • Krypton and xenon are undergoing increasing demand in a number of applications.
  • Krypton is being widely used in high quality lighting including long-life light bulbs and automotive lamps.
  • Xenon is being used for medical applications including special x-ray equipment. Both of these gases are commonly used in many laboratory and research applications.
  • krypton and xenon The principle source of krypton and xenon is the atmosphere. Atmospheric air contains about 1.1 ppm (parts per million) of krypton and about 0.08 ppm of xenon. Generally, krypton and xenon are recovered from the air in conjunction with a comprehensive air separation process which separates air into oxygen and nitrogen.
  • a process for the production of a krypton-xenon concentrate and the recovery of a gaseous product substantially free of rare gases comprising:
  • rare gas means krypton and xenon.
  • the terms “lean”, “leaner”, “rich” and “richer”, refer to the concentration of rare gases, unless specifically indicated otherwise.
  • heating zone means a heat exchange zone where entering liquid is indirectly heated and thereby partially vaporized to produce gas and remaining liquid. The remaining liquid is thereby enriched in the less volatile components present in the entering liquid.
  • directly heat exchange means the bringing of two fluid streams into heat exchange relation without any physical contact or intermixing of the fluids with each other.
  • the term "equilibrium stage” means a vapor-liquid contacting stage whereby the vapor and liquid leaving that stage are in mass transfer equilibrium.
  • an equilibrium stage would correspond to a theoretical tray or plate.
  • an equilibrium stage would correspond to that height of column packing equivalent to one theoretical plate.
  • An actual contacting stage i.e. trays, plates, or packing, would have a correspondence to an equilibrium stage dependent on its mass transfer efficiency.
  • the term "column” means a distillation or fractionation column, i.e., a contacting column or zone wherein liquid and vapor phases are countercurrently contacted to effect separation of a fluid mixture, as for example, by contacting of the vapor and liquid phases on a series of vertically spaced trays or plates mounted within the column or alternatively, on packing elements with which the column is filled.
  • a distillation or fractionation column i.e., a contacting column or zone wherein liquid and vapor phases are countercurrently contacted to effect separation of a fluid mixture, as for example, by contacting of the vapor and liquid phases on a series of vertically spaced trays or plates mounted within the column or alternatively, on packing elements with which the column is filled.
  • double column is used herein to mean a high pressure column having its upper end in heat exchange relation with the lower end of a low pressure column.
  • the single Figure is a schematic flow diagram of one preferred embodiment of the process of this invention.
  • the schematic representation of the Figure is particularly preferred in that it illustrates a case where the feed to the krypton-xenon concentration process comes from a double-column air separation plant and the feed is taken from the air separation plant so as to have an increased krypton-xenon concentration over that which would conventionally be attained in oxygen.
  • cooled pressurized feed air 12 which has been cleaned of high boiling impurities such as carbon dioxide and water vapor, is introduced into higher pressure column 19, operating at a pressure in the range of from 5.2 to 20.7 bar (75 to 300 psia ), preferably from 5.2 to 10.3 bar (75 to 150 psia).
  • the cooling and cleaning steps, and other steps such as heat exchange with return streams, are not illustrated in the Figure since such process steps are well-known conventional steps and do not form part of this invention.
  • Liquid 20 is expanded through valve 21 and introduced as feed 22 into lower pressure column 17 which is operating at a pressure in the range of from 1.03 to 6.9 bar (15 to 100 psia), preferably from 1.03 to 2.1 bar (15 to 30 psia).
  • Nitrogen-rich vapor 23 is passed 24 to condenser 18 wherein it is condensed by indirect heat exchange with reboiling liquid from the bottom of lower pressure column 17.
  • the resulting condensed nitrogen-rich stream 60 is divided into stream 26 which is expanded through valve 30 and passed as stream 31 into column 17 as liquid reflux, and into stream 27 which is passed into column 19 as liquid reflux.
  • the Figure also illustrates low pressure feed air stream 13 to column 17 which may be available from the warm end of the air separation process as obtained from development of plant refrigeration.
  • column 17 the various input streams are separated by cryogenic rectification to produce nitrogen stream 14 and oxygen product.
  • the nitrogen stream 14 may be recovered in whole or in part, or may be released to the atmosphere.
  • krypton and xenon in the feed air will concentrate in the oxygen rather than in the nitrogen.
  • the krypton and xenon in the oxygen are further concentrated in a liquid oxygen portion enabling the recovery of a major portion of the oxygen as gaseous oxygen product, relatively free of rare gases, directly from column 17. This is accomplished by removing gaseous oxygen from column 17 as stream 37 above at least 1 and preferably at least 2 equilibrium stages or actual trays above the sump of column 17 wherein bottoms are reboiled against condensing nitrogen in condenser 18.
  • tray 32 is the bottom tray
  • tray 33 is the next higher tray
  • tray 34 is the third tray in this order.
  • oxygen product stream 37 is taken from between trays 33 and 34. In this way, because krypton and xenon both have lower vapor pressures than oxygen, the bulk of the krypton and xenon remains in liquid oxygen and is carried down into the sump, leaving stream 37 relatively free of rare gases.
  • the major portion of the krypton and xenon in the feed air is contained in the liquid in the sump of column 17.
  • This liquid is an ideal source of a feed to the krypton-xenon cencentration process of this invention.
  • liquid stream 36 containing oxygen, krypton and xenon is provided to reboiling zone 44 to form reboiling liquid 61.
  • Reboiling zone 44 may be separate from or may be within stripping column 38.
  • the concentration of krypton and xenon in the feed liquid such as stream 36 may be any effective concentration, but, in general, the concentration of krypton will be at least 10 ppm and preferably at least 20 ppm, and the concentration of xenon will be at least 1 ppm, preferably at least 2 ppm, in the liquid feed stream.
  • the liquid 61 is partially vaporized to produce a vapor, which has a lower rare gas content than the remaining liquid.
  • the vapor 41 is passed to stripping column 38 for upflow through the column.
  • the remaining liquid with its relatively high krypton and xenon content is withdrawn as the liquid concentrate product 16 containing the rare gases.
  • the krypton concentration in concentrate 16 is at least 200 ppm and preferably is at least 400 ppm
  • the xenon concentration in concentrate 16 is at least 15 ppm and preferably is at least 30 ppm.
  • high pressure nitrogen-rich vapor from an associated double-column air separation plant is employed to carry out the partial vaporization in the reboiling zone.
  • a portion 25 of nitrogen-rich vapor 23 is passed to reboiler condenser 43 wherein it is condensed by indirect heat exchange with partially vaporizing reboiling liquid 61.
  • the resulting condensed nitrogen stream 28 is passed to column 19 as liquid reflux.
  • stream 28 may be combined with liquid nitrogen from main condenser 18 to form combined stream 29 for passage into column 19.
  • Stripping column 38 operates at a pressure within the range of from 1.03 to 6.9 bar (15 to 100 psia), preferably from 1.03 to 2.1 bar (15 to 30 psia), and serves to strip a significant portion, and preferably substantially all, of the krypton and xenon in vapor 41 into downflowing liquid.
  • the entering downflowing stripping liquid must have a krypton-xenon concentration less than that of vapor 41 and preferably the krypton-xenon concentration in this reflux liquid when it enters the column is less than about 3 ppm.
  • a convenient source for the reflux or stripping liquid is the double column air separation plant. As illustrated in the Figure a liquid stream 35 is taken from above the point where gaseous oxygen product stream 37 is taken. In this way the liquid stream 35 has the low krypton-xenon concentration.
  • vapor 41 is passed against downflowing liquid 35 and krypton and xenon from vapor 41 are stripped into the downflowing liquid.
  • the resulting richer liquid 39 is passed to reboiling zone 44 to form part of the reboiling liquid 61.
  • the Figure illustrates a convenient arrangement wherein richer liquid 39 is combined with feed liquid 36 to form liquid 40 and this combined liquid is passed to reboiling zone 44 to form reboiling liquid 61.
  • the lean vapor which results from the stripping operation is withdrawn from column 38 as stream 42 and recovered as gaseous product substantially free of rare gases.
  • the Figure illustrates a convenient arrangement wherein lean vapor 42 is combined with gaseous oxygen product 37 from the air separation process and the resulting combined stream 15 is recovered as gaseous oxygen product.
  • the stripping column By passing the feed to the krypton-xenon concentration process directly to the reboiling zone rather than to the stripping column, and by carrying out the stripping process in the defined manner of this invention wherein only the vapor from the reboiling zone is passed through the stripping column, one is able to produce a krypton-xenon concentrate and a gaseous rare gas-free oxygen product employing a stripping column of considerably smaller size than is required for conventional krypton-xenon concentration processes.
  • the liquid feeds to the stripping column i.e. streams 35 and 36, will be about 20 percent of the oxygen product 15 from the plant. Accordingly, the stripping column then handles vapor flow 42 which is about one-fifth that of the conventional rare gas recovery process and thereby requires about one-fifth the cross-sectional flow area of the conventional flow area of a conventional oxygen gas stripping column.
  • the greater part of the oxygen from the air separation plant bypasses the krypton-xenon process entirely thus reducing markedly the throughput and thus the size requirements of the stripping column.
  • the liquid stream to the reboiling zone contains from about 5 to 40 percent of the oxygen from the air separation plant, and preferably about 20 percent.
  • Another advantage is that the majority of the oxygen gas 37 is maintained at the pressure level of low pressure column 17.
  • the portion of the oxygen product 42 that must be processed in the stripping column can be returned at equivalent pressure by operating the stripping column at a slightly higher pressure level to compensate for the column pressure drops.
  • the higher pressure level can be easily obtained by reducing the elevation of the stripping column and utilizing the hydrostatic liquid height for the two liquid feeds.
  • a further advantage of this process is that the liquid draw from the lower pressure column sump serves to avoid buildup of hydrocarbons in that column.
  • Table I there are tabulated the results of a computer simulation of the process of this invention carried out in accord with the embodiment illustrated in the Figure.
  • the data is presented for illustrative purposes and is not intended to be limiting.
  • the flow is indicated as measured at ambient temperature (21 ° C or 70 ° F) and atmospheric pressure.
  • the purity is defined in mole percent unless parts per million volume (ppm) is specified.
  • the stream numbers correspond to those of the Figure.
  • the process of this invention effectively produces a krypton-xenon concentrate and substantially rare gas-free gaseous oxygen while requiring only a small flowrate for the feed to the concentration process. This significantly reduces both the capital and operating costs of the concentration process.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Thermal Sciences (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Separation By Low-Temperature Treatments (AREA)
  • Oxygen, Ozone, And Oxides In General (AREA)

Claims (15)

1. Procédé de production d'un concentré de krypton-xénon et de séparation d'un produit gazeux pratiquement dépourvu de gaz rares, qui comprend des étapes consistant:
(1) à prélever dans une installation (17, 19) de fractionnement d'air un courant d'alimentation (36) comprenant de l'oxygène, du krypton et du xénon et à introduire ce courant d'alimentation dans une zone de réébullition (44);
(2) à vaporiser partiellement un liquide en réébullition (61) pour produire une vapeur (41) et un concentré liquide krypton-xénon (16);
(3) à recueillir le concentré de krypton-xénon (16);
(4) à introduire dans une colonne de rectification (38) un liquide de reflux (35) ayant une concentration en krypton-xénon plus faible que dans ladite vapeur (41);
(5) à faire descendre la vapeur (41) à contre-courant avec le liquide de reflux (35) dans la colonne de rectification (38);
(6) à entraîner le krypton et le xénon de la vapeur (41) dans le liquide de reflux (35) pour produire une vapeur pauvre (42) et un liquide enrichi (39);
(7) à transférer le liquide enrichi (39) dans la zone de réébullition (44) pour former une partie du liquide de réébullition (61);
(8) à évacuer de la vapeur pauvre (42) de la colonne de rectification (38); et
(9) à recueillir la vapeur pauvre (42) évacuée comme produit gazeux pratiquement dépourvu de gaz rares; caractérisé en ce que ledit courant d'alimentation (36) est prélevé dans l'installation (17, 19) de fractionnement d'air comme courant de liquide d'alimentation qui forme une autre partie du liquide de réébullition (61) dans ladite zone de réébullition (44); et en ce que

la majeure partie (37) de l'oxygène gazeux constituant le produit (15) est directement recueillie à la sortie de ladite installation (17, 19) de fractionnement d'air.
2. Procédé suivant la revendication 1, dans lequel le courant liquide d'alimentation (36) comprend environ 5 à 40% de l'oxygène venant de l'installation de fractionnement d'air.
3. Procédé suivant la revendication 1 ou 2, dans lequel la concentration en krypton dans le courant liquide d'alimentation (36) est d'au moins 10 ppm.
4. Procédé suivant l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, dans lequel le liquide enrichi (39) sortant de la colonne de rectification (38) rejoint le liquide d'alimentation (36) avant le transfert dans la zone de réébullition (44).
5. Procédé suivant l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, dans lequel la colonne de rectification (38) fonctionne à une pression absolue comprise dans l'intervalle de 1,0 à 6,9 bars (15 à 100 Ib/in2).
6. Procédé suivant l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, dans lequel la concentration du krypton dans le concentré de krypton-xénon (16) est d'au moins 200 ppm.
7. Procédé suivant l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, dans lequel le liquide d'alimentation (36) est prélevé dans la zone de relation d'échange de chaleur d'un procédé de fractionnement d'air à colonne double.
8. Procédé suivant la revendication 7, dans lequel le liquide de reflux (35) destiné à la colonne d'entraînement (38) provient de la colonne (17) à basse pression du procédé à colonne double et est prélevé en un point situé au-dessus du point de prélèvement du liquide d'alimentation (36).
9. Procédé suivant la revendication 7 ou 8, dans lequel la portion principale (37) du produit (15) constitué d'oxygène gazeux est déchargée de la colonne (17) à basse pression.
10. Procédé suivant la revendication 9, dans lequel la portion principale (37) du produit (15) constitué d'oxygène gazeux est déchargée de la colonne (17) à basse pression en un point situé entre les points où le liquide d'alimentation (36) et le liquide de reflux (35) sont respectivement prélevés.
11. Procédé suivant l'une quelconque des revendications 1 à 6, dans lequel une installation cryogénique (17, 19) de fractionnement d'air comprenant une colonne à haute pression (19) et une colonne à basse pression (17) en relation d'échange de chaleur est utilisée; ledit courant liquide d'alimentation (36) es soutiré de la zone de relation d'échange de chaleur desdites colonnes à haute et basse pressions (17, 19); le liquide de reflux (35) destiné à la colonne de rectification (38) est soutiré de la colonne (17) à basse pression en un point situé au-dessus du point de soutirage du courant liquide d'alimentation (36); et la portion principale (37) du produit (15) constitué d'oxygène gazeux est soutirée de la colonne à basse pression en un point situé entre les points de soutirage du courant liquide d'alimentation (36) et du liquide de reflux (35).
12. Procédé suivant la revendication 8 ou 11, dans lequel le liquide de reflux (35) est soutiré de la colonne (17) à basse pression au moins deux étages d'équilibre au-dessus de la zone de relation d'échange de chaleur.
13. Procédé suivant l'une quelconque des revendications 7 à 12, dans lequel la vaporisation partielle du liquide de réébullition (61) est effectuée par échange indirect de chaleur avec de la vapeur riche en azote (25) qui se condense, cette vapeur provenant de la colonne (19) à haute pression.
14. Procédé suivant la revendication 13, dans lequel le courant condensé (28) résultant riche en azote est recyclé à la colonne à haute pression (19) comme reflux liquide.
15. Procédé suivant l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, dans lequel la vapeur pauvre (42) évacuée et la portion principale (37) du produit (15) constitué d'oxygène gazeux sont réunies et recueillies ensemble.
EP85113014A 1984-08-16 1985-10-14 Procédé pour la préparation d'un concentré crypton-xénon et un produit gazeux d'oxygène Expired EP0218741B1 (fr)

Priority Applications (4)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US06/641,280 US4568528A (en) 1984-08-16 1984-08-16 Process to produce a krypton-xenon concentrate and a gaseous oxygen product
DE8585113014T DE3574770D1 (de) 1985-10-14 1985-10-14 Verfahren zur gewinnung eines krypton-xenonkonzentrats und ein gasfoermiges sauerstoffprodukt.
EP85113014A EP0218741B1 (fr) 1985-10-14 1985-10-14 Procédé pour la préparation d'un concentré crypton-xénon et un produit gazeux d'oxygène
AT85113014T ATE48691T1 (de) 1985-10-14 1985-10-14 Verfahren zur gewinnung eines kryptonxenonkonzentrats und ein gasfoermiges sauerstoffprodukt.

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP85113014A EP0218741B1 (fr) 1985-10-14 1985-10-14 Procédé pour la préparation d'un concentré crypton-xénon et un produit gazeux d'oxygène

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EP0218741A1 EP0218741A1 (fr) 1987-04-22
EP0218741B1 true EP0218741B1 (fr) 1989-12-13

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DE (1) DE3574770D1 (fr)

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EP0218741A1 (fr) 1987-04-22
DE3574770D1 (de) 1990-01-18
ATE48691T1 (de) 1989-12-15

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