Classifications

• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25J—LIQUEFACTION, SOLIDIFICATION OR SEPARATION OF GASES OR GASEOUS OR LIQUEFIED GASEOUS MIXTURES BY PRESSURE AND COLD TREATMENT OR BY BRINGING THEM INTO THE SUPERCRITICAL STATE
  • F25J3/00—Processes or apparatus for separating the constituents of gaseous or liquefied gaseous mixtures involving the use of liquefaction or solidification
  • F25J3/02—Processes 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
  • F25J3/04—Processes 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
  • F25J3/04006—Providing pressurised feed air or process streams within or from the air fractionation unit
  • F25J3/04048—Providing pressurised feed air or process streams within or from the air fractionation unit by compression of cold gaseous streams, e.g. intermediate or oxygen enriched (waste) streams
  • F25J3/0406—Providing pressurised feed air or process streams within or from the air fractionation unit by compression of cold gaseous streams, e.g. intermediate or oxygen enriched (waste) streams of nitrogen
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F04—POSITIVE - DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS FOR LIQUIDS OR ELASTIC FLUIDS
  • F04D—NON-POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT PUMPS
  • F04D29/00—Details, component parts, or accessories
  • F04D29/58—Cooling; Heating; Diminishing heat transfer
  • F04D29/582—Cooling; Heating; Diminishing heat transfer specially adapted for elastic fluid pumps
  • F04D29/5826—Cooling at least part of the working fluid in a heat exchanger
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25J—LIQUEFACTION, SOLIDIFICATION OR SEPARATION OF GASES OR GASEOUS OR LIQUEFIED GASEOUS MIXTURES BY PRESSURE AND COLD TREATMENT OR BY BRINGING THEM INTO THE SUPERCRITICAL STATE
  • F25J3/00—Processes or apparatus for separating the constituents of gaseous or liquefied gaseous mixtures involving the use of liquefaction or solidification
  • F25J3/02—Processes 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
  • F25J3/04—Processes 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
  • F25J3/04006—Providing pressurised feed air or process streams within or from the air fractionation unit
  • F25J3/04012—Providing pressurised feed air or process streams within or from the air fractionation unit by compression of warm gaseous streams; details of intake or interstage cooling
  • F25J3/04018—Providing pressurised feed air or process streams within or from the air fractionation unit by compression of warm gaseous streams; details of intake or interstage cooling of main feed air
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25J—LIQUEFACTION, SOLIDIFICATION OR SEPARATION OF GASES OR GASEOUS OR LIQUEFIED GASEOUS MIXTURES BY PRESSURE AND COLD TREATMENT OR BY BRINGING THEM INTO THE SUPERCRITICAL STATE
  • F25J3/00—Processes or apparatus for separating the constituents of gaseous or liquefied gaseous mixtures involving the use of liquefaction or solidification
  • F25J3/02—Processes 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
  • F25J3/04—Processes 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
  • F25J3/04006—Providing pressurised feed air or process streams within or from the air fractionation unit
  • F25J3/04012—Providing pressurised feed air or process streams within or from the air fractionation unit by compression of warm gaseous streams; details of intake or interstage cooling
  • F25J3/04024—Providing pressurised feed air or process streams within or from the air fractionation unit by compression of warm gaseous streams; details of intake or interstage cooling of purified feed air, so-called boosted air
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25J—LIQUEFACTION, SOLIDIFICATION OR SEPARATION OF GASES OR GASEOUS OR LIQUEFIED GASEOUS MIXTURES BY PRESSURE AND COLD TREATMENT OR BY BRINGING THEM INTO THE SUPERCRITICAL STATE
  • F25J3/00—Processes or apparatus for separating the constituents of gaseous or liquefied gaseous mixtures involving the use of liquefaction or solidification
  • F25J3/02—Processes 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
  • F25J3/04—Processes 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
  • F25J3/04006—Providing pressurised feed air or process streams within or from the air fractionation unit
  • F25J3/04012—Providing pressurised feed air or process streams within or from the air fractionation unit by compression of warm gaseous streams; details of intake or interstage cooling
  • F25J3/0403—Providing pressurised feed air or process streams within or from the air fractionation unit by compression of warm gaseous streams; details of intake or interstage cooling of nitrogen
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25J—LIQUEFACTION, SOLIDIFICATION OR SEPARATION OF GASES OR GASEOUS OR LIQUEFIED GASEOUS MIXTURES BY PRESSURE AND COLD TREATMENT OR BY BRINGING THEM INTO THE SUPERCRITICAL STATE
  • F25J2215/00—Processes characterised by the type or other details of the product stream
  • F25J2215/40—Air or oxygen enriched air, i.e. generally less than 30mol% of O2
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25J—LIQUEFACTION, SOLIDIFICATION OR SEPARATION OF GASES OR GASEOUS OR LIQUEFIED GASEOUS MIXTURES BY PRESSURE AND COLD TREATMENT OR BY BRINGING THEM INTO THE SUPERCRITICAL STATE
  • F25J2230/00—Processes or apparatus involving steps for increasing the pressure of gaseous process streams
  • F25J2230/04—Compressor cooling arrangement, e.g. inter- or after-stage cooling or condensate removal
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25J—LIQUEFACTION, SOLIDIFICATION OR SEPARATION OF GASES OR GASEOUS OR LIQUEFIED GASEOUS MIXTURES BY PRESSURE AND COLD TREATMENT OR BY BRINGING THEM INTO THE SUPERCRITICAL STATE
  • F25J2290/00—Other details not covered by groups F25J2200/00 - F25J2280/00
  • F25J2290/12—Particular process parameters like pressure, temperature, ratios

Definitions

• GAS COMPRESSOR APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING A GAS MIXTURE INCORPORATING SUCH A COMPRESSOR AND METHOD FOR SEPARATING A GAS MIXTURE INCORPORATING SUCH A COMPRESSOR
• the present invention relates to a gas compressor and to a device for separating a gas mixture incorporating such a compressor.
• a conventional multistage compressor the compressed gas in one stage is cooled in an inter-stage refrigerant before being sent to the next stage, so that the gas remains at an acceptable temperature for the next compression stage .
• the compressed gas in the last stage is also cooled downstream of this stage.
• the gas cooled by the refrigerant undergoes a pressure drop.
• the same pressure drops undergone by the compressed gas are the same for each refrigerant, regardless of the pressure of the compressed gas which they cool.5
• compressor includes blowers and blowers and compressors followed by boosters forming a single machine.
• the compressors concerned can be centrifugal, axial, radial, reciprocating or combinations of these types of compressors.
• the compressors can have intermediate inputs and / or outputs. 0
• the air passes through the compressor from upstream to downstream.
• a stage of a compressor is upstream of another stage if the air passes into this stage before passing into the other stage.
• All pressures are absolute pressures. Insofar as the same pressure drops cost only little energy at high pressure compared to medium or low pressure, instead of having a compressor having intermediate refrigerants with the same pressure drops at each of the stages, by using higher gas pressure losses on the stages compressing the gas at higher pressure, it is possible to gain on the investment of the compressor.
• a gas compressor having n stages connected in series where n is equal to at least 3, each stage being followed by a refrigerant characterized in that at least two refrigerants have different pressure drops for the compressed gas, the refrigerant having the loss of lower load being upstream of that having the higher pressure drop.
• the refrigerant of the last stage of the compressor has a higher pressure drop than that of the first;
• the compressor comprises at least four stages in which the last stages of the compressor have a higher pressure drop than the first; - at least two refrigerants have different pressure drops of at least 30%, or even at least 50% or even at least 100%, the refrigerant having the lowest pressure drop being upstream of that having the higher pressure drop; at least two refrigerants have pressure losses different by at least 100%, the refrigerant having the lowest pressure drop being upstream of that having the highest pressure drop.
• an apparatus for separating a gas mixture comprising at least one compressor as defined above and means for sending a gas originating from and / or intended for the apparatus to this compressor. .
• an air separation apparatus as defined above, comprising a cryogenic distillation apparatus comprising at least one distillation column, means for sending compressed air to a column of the apparatus, means for withdrawing a liquid from a column of the apparatus, means for vaporizing the liquid by heat exchange with a compressed gas, the compressed gas having been compressed by at least one of the last stages (by the last stage) of the compressor and / or the compressed air having been compressed in the compressor.
• the apparatus comprises means for vaporizing the liquid by heat exchange with air from one of the last stages (of the last stage) of the compressor.
• a method for separating a gas mixture by cryogenic distillation in a column system in which a gas intended for the column system or a gas coming from the column system is compressed, in a compressor as defined above, the gas leaving the last stage of the compressor being at a pressure greater than 5 bars, preferably greater than 10 bars.
• a method in which i) an air flow is compressed at a first pressure ii) a part of the air is boosted at the first pressure to a second pressure greater than 10 bars iii) part of the air is sent at the first pressure for distillation in a column of the column system iv) a liquid flow is withdrawn from a column of the system v) the liquid flow is vaporized by heat exchange with the air at the second pressure characterized in that vi) the air flow is compressed at the first pressure and / or the part of the air is pressurized until the second pressure in at least one compressor as defined above .
• the invention will be described in more detail with reference to the Figures.
• the Figures show very simplified separation devices incorporating at least one compressor according to the invention.
• an air flow 3 at atmospheric pressure is sent to a compressor 1.
• the compressor consists of stages C1, C2, C3, C4 and C5 and their respective refrigerants. It is: compressed in the first stage C1, cooled by the intermediate refrigerant R1, compressed in the second stage C2, cooled by the intermediate refrigerant R2, compressed in the third stage C3, cooled by the intermediate refrigerant R3, compressed in the fourth stage C4, cooled by the intermediate refrigerant R4, compressed in the fifth stage C5 and cooled by the final refrigerant R5 to exit at a pressure between 20 and 40 bars.
• the pressure drops of the compressed air for the intermediate refrigerants R1, R2 and R3 are substantially identical.
• the pressure drop for the intermediate refrigerant R4 is at least 30%, preferably at least 50%, or even at least 100% higher than that of the preceding refrigerants R1, R2 and R3.
• the pressure drop for the final refrigerant R5 is at least 30% higher, preferably at least 50%, or even at least 100% than that of the refrigerant R4.
• the refrigerant R4 can have the same pressure drop as the refrigerants R1, R2 and R3.
• the pressure drop for the refrigerant R3 can be greater than that of the refrigerants R1 and R2 by at least 30%, preferably by at least 50%, or even 100% and the pressure drop for the refrigerant R4 may be substantially equal to or greater than that of R3 by at least
• the air cooled in the refrigerant R5 is sent to a purification step 5 and then to an air separation device 7 operating by cryogenic distillation or another technique, to produce a product 9 which can be oxygen and / or nitrogen and / or argon.
• an air flow 3 at atmospheric pressure is sent to a compressor 1.
• the compressor consists of stages C1, C2, C3, C4 and C5 and their respective refrigerants. It is: compressed in the first stage C1, cooled by the intermediate refrigerant R1, compressed in the second stage C2, cooled by the intermediate refrigerant R2, compressed in the third stage C3, cooled by the intermediate refrigerant R3 and then sent to a stage treatment.
• a purified flow 6 leaves the purification step to be sent to the air separation device 7 or elsewhere.
• the rest of the purified air 8 is compressed in the fourth stage C4, cooled by the intermediate refrigerant R4, compressed in the fifth stage C5 and cooled by the final refrigerant R5 to exit at a pressure between 20 and 40 bars.
• This gas can then be used to vaporize a liquid pumped under pressure in an exchanger of the air separation apparatus 7.
• the pressure drops on the air for the intermediate refrigerants R1, R2 and R3 are substantially identical. However, the pressure drop for the intermediate refrigerant R4 is at least 30%, preferably at least 50%, or even 100% higher than that of the preceding refrigerants R1, R2 and R3.
• the pressure drop for the final refrigerant R5 is at least 30%, preferably at least 50%, or even at least 100% higher than that of the refrigerant R4.
• the refrigerant R4 can have the same pressure drop as the refrigerants R1, R2 and R3.
• the pressure drop for the refrigerant R3 can be greater than that of the refrigerants R1 and R2 by at least 30%, preferably by at least 50%, or even 100% and the pressure drop for the refrigerant R4 may be substantially equal to or greater than that of R3 by at least 30%, preferably at least 50%, or even at least 100%.
• stages C1, C2 and C3 compress all the air to an intermediate pressure and only part of the air is compressed to the maximum pressure in stages C4, C5 which form a booster. All stages C1, C2, C3, C4 and C5 are on the same axis and form part of the compressor 1.
• the air 8 cooled in the final refrigerant R5 is sent to the air separation device.
• air 3 is compressed in a compressor 1 which may be that described in FIGS. 1 or 2, the compressed air is purified and sent to the air separation device 7.
• From the nitrogen gas 9 is withdrawn from the device 7 and sent to a compressor 11, consisting of three stages CA1, CA2 and CA3.
• the nitrogen pressure is above atmospheric pressure, preferably between 1.5 and 10 bars.
• the nitrogen is: compressed in the first stage CA1, cooled by the intermediate refrigerant RA1, compressed in the second stage CA2, cooled by the intermediate refrigerant RA2, compressed in the third stage CA3 and cooled by the final refrigerant RA3.
• the pressure drop on the nitrogen of the final refrigerant RA3 is greater by at least 30%, preferably by at least 50%, or even by at least 100% than that of the refrigerant RA2 and the refrigerant RA1.
• the invention applies in particular to separation by cryogenic distillation but can be used in separations at higher temperatures.
• the gaseous mixture to be separated described in the examples is air but can for example consist of carbon monoxide and / or hydrogen and / or methane and / or nitrogen and / or helium as main components.
• the compressor can be a compressor for air, nitrogen, oxygen, argon, synthesis gas, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, helium, methane or any other gas.

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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)
• Structures Of Non-Positive Displacement Pumps (AREA)

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• 2003
  • 2003-12-05 FR FR0350978A patent/FR2863348B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2004
  • 2004-11-24 CN CNB2004800360783A patent/CN100473928C/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2004-11-24 US US10/580,797 patent/US20070122272A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2004-11-24 WO PCT/FR2004/050615 patent/WO2005057111A1/fr active Application Filing
  • 2004-11-24 JP JP2006541989A patent/JP2007518048A/ja active Pending
  • 2004-11-24 EP EP04805857A patent/EP1692443A1/de not_active Withdrawn

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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