EP2541175A2 - Air separation unit and systems incorporating the same - Google Patents
Air separation unit and systems incorporating the same Download PDFInfo
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- EP2541175A2 EP2541175A2 EP12173515A EP12173515A EP2541175A2 EP 2541175 A2 EP2541175 A2 EP 2541175A2 EP 12173515 A EP12173515 A EP 12173515A EP 12173515 A EP12173515 A EP 12173515A EP 2541175 A2 EP2541175 A2 EP 2541175A2
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- 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
- F25J3/04521—Coupling of the air fractionation unit to an air gas-consuming unit, so-called integrated processes
- F25J3/04527—Integration with an oxygen consuming unit, e.g. glass facility, waste incineration or oxygen based processes in general
- F25J3/04533—Integration with an oxygen consuming unit, e.g. glass facility, waste incineration or oxygen based processes in general for the direct combustion of fuels in a power plant, so-called "oxyfuel combustion"
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- 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
- F25J3/04078—Providing pressurised feed air or process streams within or from the air fractionation unit providing pressurized products by liquid compression and vaporisation with cold recovery, i.e. so-called internal compression
- F25J3/04084—Providing pressurised feed air or process streams within or from the air fractionation unit providing pressurized products by liquid compression and vaporisation with cold recovery, i.e. so-called internal compression of nitrogen
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- 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
- F25J3/04078—Providing pressurised feed air or process streams within or from the air fractionation unit providing pressurized products by liquid compression and vaporisation with cold recovery, i.e. so-called internal compression
- F25J3/0409—Providing pressurised feed air or process streams within or from the air fractionation unit providing pressurized products by liquid compression and vaporisation with cold recovery, i.e. so-called internal compression of oxygen
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- 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
- F25J3/04248—Generation of cold for compensating heat leaks or liquid production, e.g. by Joule-Thompson expansion
- F25J3/04284—Generation 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
- F25J3/0429—Generation 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
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- 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
- F25J3/04248—Generation of cold for compensating heat leaks or liquid production, e.g. by Joule-Thompson expansion
- F25J3/04284—Generation 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
- F25J3/0429—Generation 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
- F25J3/04296—Claude expansion, i.e. expanded into the main or high pressure column
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- 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
- F25J3/04248—Generation of cold for compensating heat leaks or liquid production, e.g. by Joule-Thompson expansion
- F25J3/04375—Details relating to the work expansion, e.g. process parameter etc.
- F25J3/04387—Details relating to the work expansion, e.g. process parameter etc. using liquid or hydraulic turbine expansion
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- 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
- F25J3/044—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 using a single pressure main column system only
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- 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
- F25J3/04406—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 using a dual pressure main column system
- F25J3/04424—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 using a dual pressure main column system without thermally coupled high and low pressure columns, i.e. a so-called split columns
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- 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
- F25J3/04521—Coupling of the air fractionation unit to an air gas-consuming unit, so-called integrated processes
- F25J3/04563—Integration with a nitrogen consuming unit, e.g. for purging, inerting, cooling or heating
- F25J3/04569—Integration with a nitrogen consuming unit, e.g. for purging, inerting, cooling or heating for enhanced or tertiary oil recovery
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- 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
- F25J3/04521—Coupling of the air fractionation unit to an air gas-consuming unit, so-called integrated processes
- F25J3/04563—Integration with a nitrogen consuming unit, e.g. for purging, inerting, cooling or heating
- F25J3/04575—Integration with a nitrogen consuming unit, e.g. for purging, inerting, cooling or heating for a gas expansion plant, e.g. dilution of the combustion gas in a gas turbine
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- 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
- F25J2205/00—Processes or apparatus using other separation and/or other processing means
- F25J2205/02—Processes or apparatus using other separation and/or other processing means using simple phase separation in a vessel or drum
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- 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
- F25J2205/00—Processes or apparatus using other separation and/or other processing means
- F25J2205/02—Processes or apparatus using other separation and/or other processing means using simple phase separation in a vessel or drum
- F25J2205/04—Processes or apparatus using other separation and/or other processing means using simple phase separation in a vessel or drum in the feed line, i.e. upstream of the fractionation step
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- 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
- F25J2210/00—Processes characterised by the type or other details of the feed stream
- F25J2210/04—Mixing or blending of fluids with the feed stream
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- 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
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- 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
- F25J2240/00—Processes or apparatus involving steps for expanding of process streams
- F25J2240/02—Expansion of a process fluid in a work-extracting turbine (i.e. isentropic expansion), e.g. of the feed stream
- F25J2240/22—Expansion of a process fluid in a work-extracting turbine (i.e. isentropic expansion), e.g. of the feed stream the fluid being oxygen enriched compared to air, e.g. "crude oxygen"
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- 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
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- F25J2245/02—Recycle of a stream in general, e.g. a by-pass stream
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- 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
- F25J2260/00—Coupling of processes or apparatus to other units; Integrated schemes
- F25J2260/80—Integration in an installation using carbon dioxide, e.g. for EOR, sequestration, refrigeration etc.
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- 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
- the invention relates generally to air separation units and systems incorporating the air separation units. More particularly, the invention relates to separation of nitrogen and oxygen from air in liquid form and systems incorporating these products for use in, for example, such applications as power generation and natural resource recovery.
- Exhaust streams generated by the combustion of fossil fuels in, for example, power generation systems contain nitrogen oxides (NO x ) and carbon monoxide (CO) as byproducts during combustion.
- a method for achieving near-zero NO x is the oxy-fuel combustion process.
- pure oxygen typically in combination with a secondary gas such as carbon dioxide
- carbon dioxide is used as the oxidizer, as opposed to using air, thereby resulting in a flue gas with negligible NO x emissions.
- oxy-fuel combustion is an attractive technology for applications, such as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) production or sequestration, that benefit from production of CO 2 with low levels of oxygen contamination.
- a CO 2 separation unit In gas turbines that operate by way of an oxy-fuel process, a CO 2 separation unit is not needed, because the main component of combustion exhaust includes primarily CO 2 , and water (H 2 O). By condensing H 2 O a high concentration stream of CO 2 may be produced and can be used for CO 2 sequestration or other CO 2 applications.
- An air separation unit separates oxygen and nitrogen and is useful as an oxygen source for an oxy-fuel process and for separately providing high purity nitrogen.
- the high purity nitrogen obtained by ASU can be used for any of various applications, such as oil or gas reservoir management in an enhanced oil or gas recovery system, for instance.
- Nitrogen and carbon dioxide can be used as injection fluids in enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Nitrogen can be an economic alternative to carbon dioxide for EOR application.
- the pressure of nitrogen injected into an oil well is greater than the minimum miscible pressure (MMP) of nitrogen and that oil.
- MMP minimum miscible pressure
- Nitrogen forming a miscible slug with oil aids in freeing the oil for recovery. Therefore, generally the gaseous low-pressure nitrogen supplied by the ASU is compressed to higher pressure before injecting into the oil reservoirs.
- the nitrogen separated from the oxygen in the ASU is afterwards compressed in gaseous phase to the desired pressure, which demands a significant amount of power.
- the present invention resides in a system including an air separation unit.
- the air separation unit includes an air compression unit configured to produce compressed air at a pressure greater than about 3 bars; a heat-exchanger unit configured to receive and cool the compressed air to produce cooled air; a first distillation unit configured to receive the cooled air and produce a first output stream comprising liquid-nitrogen; and a first pump in direct communication with the first distillation unit and configured to pressurize the first output stream to a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure.
- the invention resides in a method including the steps of compressing air in an air compression unit to a pressure greater than about 3 bars; cooling the compressed air by passing through a heat-exchanger unit; distilling the cooled air stream in a distillation unit to produce a first stream comprising liquid-nitrogen, and a second stream; and pressurizing the first stream to a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure.
- Embodiments of the present invention include an ASU that may provide clean, pressurized liquid nitrogen and oxygen output and systems integrated with the ASU.
- an oxy-fuel combined cycle power plant system 10 includes an air separation unit (ASU) 12, a combustor 14, and a power plant with cooling system 16, as depicted in FIG. 1 .
- the ASU 12 separates oxygen from air, providing a supply of oxygen as an oxidizer to the combustor 14.
- the combustor 14 is configured to burn fuel in the presence of this supplied oxygen, either alone or after mixing with CO 2 .
- Nitrogen from the ASU 12 can be stored in a reservoir management unit 18 and/or used for other applications, such as, for example, recovering natural gas from gas fields or for oil recovery. Products of combustion normally contain mainly CO 2 , H 2 O and trace emissions of CO and O 2 .
- the cooling system 16 embedded in power plant condenses H 2 O from exhaust downstream of combustor 14, resulting in exhaust gases exceeding 95% CO 2 composition.
- a system including an ASU is provided.
- the ASU is configured to liquefy nitrogen at very low temperatures.
- the ASU is also configured to liquefy oxygen.
- the liquid oxygen may be pumped to a pressure suitable for oxy-fuel combustion.
- the liquid nitrogen may be pumped to a very high pressure (300-500 bars) and injected into an oil/gas reservoir for enhanced oil /gas recovery.
- the system is configured to produce a carbon dioxide stream from exhaust products of the oxy-fuel combustor.
- the carbon dioxide stream produced here is a high-content CO 2 stream.
- a "high-content CO 2 stream” is defined as a stream having more than about 80% by volume of CO 2 .
- a high-content CO 2 stream contains more than about 90% by volume of CO 2 .
- the high-content CO 2 stream contains more than about 95% by volume of CO 2 .
- a stream "substantially free of oxygen” is defined as a stream containing less than about 1% by volume of oxygen. In one embodiment, an oxygen level of less than 10 ppm in the CO 2 exhaust stream is desirable.
- One example of an application where a high-content CO 2 stream is desirable is oil recovery from depleted oil recovery wells, where CO 2 stream injection is used to force oil from the well.
- a portion of the high-content CO 2 exhaust gases may also be recirculated to the combustor 14, for mixing with the separated O 2 from the ASU 12. Maintaining minimum CO emissions from the combustion helps in maintaining high combustion efficiency.
- system 10 comprises an ASU 12, as shown in FIG. 2 .
- the ASU 12 includes an air compression unit 20; a heat-exchanger unit 22; a first distillation unit 26; and a first pump 28.
- a "unit" may be made up of a single component or made up of more than one component.
- an air compressor unit may be one compressor or may have more than one compressors combined to produce the required air compression.
- the air compression unit 20 is configured to produce compressed air to a pressure greater than about 3 bars. In one embodiment, the air compression unit 20 is configured to produce a compressed air to a pressure greater than about 7 bars. In a further embodiment, the air compression unit 20 is configured to produce a compressed air at a pressure in a range from about 15 bars to about 60 bars. In one particular embodiment, the air compression unit 20 is configured to produce compressed air to a pressure up to about 40 bars.
- the compressed air passes through the heat-exchanger unit 22, where the air is cooled. The cooling of compressed air is attained by the heat-exchange between different streams that pass through the heat-exchanger unit 22. For example, cool nitrogen and / or oxygen streams separated from air may pass through the heat-exchanger unit 22 absorbing heat from the compressed air and, thereby, cooling the compressed air.
- the cooled, compressed air may be subjected to expansion in an expander 24, which further cools the already cooled air.
- an expander 24 is a valve introducing a pressure difference to the incoming cooled compressed air.
- the cooled compressed air gets expanded suddenly to a lower pressure, resulting in further cooled, reduced pressure-compressed air.
- the pressure of the compressed air, after passing through the expander 24 is less than about 5 bars. In one embodiment, the pressure of the air after passing through the expander 24 is less than about 3 bars.
- the expanded air coming out of the expander 24 is at atmospheric pressure.
- the cooled air passed through the expander 24 enters the first distillation unit 26.
- the first distillation unit 26 is configured to operate at a pressure greater than about 2 bars and is called as a "high-pressure distillation unit".
- an inlet pressure of the first distillation unit is in the range from about 3.5 bars to about 5 bars.
- the first distillation unit 26 operates at atmospheric pressure.
- the compressed air entering the first distillation unit 26 is generally at relatively low temperature.
- the temperature of the air entering the first distillation unit 26 is in between about -150°C and about -210°C. In one further embodiment, the temperature of the air is in the range from about -165°C to about - 185°C.
- the temperature of the air entering first distillation unit 26 is determined in part by the initial pressure of the compressed air, the ability of the heat-exchanger unit 22 to cool the compressed air and the configuration of the expander 24 to expand the cooled air.
- a high pressure compressed air ends up giving out more heat at the time of expansion compared to air compressed to a lower pressure.
- a heat-exchanger unit 22 that has low temperature coolant streams will effectively extract more heat from the compressed air compared to a heat exchanger unit 22 having higher temperature coolant streams.
- the volume, pressure difference, and the temperature of the expander 24 may change the heat extracted from the air passing through the expander 24.
- a first output stream 30 produced from the first distillation unit 26 comprises liquid nitrogen.
- the first output stream 30 produced from the first distillation unit 26 comprises more than about 25 % of the inlet compressed air mass flow and comprises high purity liquid nitrogen.
- the liquid nitrogen of first output stream 30 is of greater than 95% purity.
- the liquid nitrogen is more than about 99% pure.
- the liquid nitrogen is of more than 99.9% purity.
- the temperature of first output stream 30 produced from the first distillation unit 26 is less than about -175°C.
- the temperature of first output stream 30 is less than about -178°C.
- the temperature of the first output stream 30 is in the range from about -178°C to about -185°C.
- the pressure of the first output stream 30 is greater than atmospheric pressure. In one embodiment, the pressure of the first output stream 30 is greater than about 3 bars. In one particular embodiment, the pressure of the first output stream ranges from about 3.5 bars to about 5 bars.
- the first output stream 30 is further pressurized using a first pump 28. In one embodiment, the first pump 28 is in direct communication with the first distillation unit 26. As used herein the "direct communication" between the pump 28 and distillation unit 26 means that the first output stream 30 from the distillation unit 26 is directly pumped to high pressure without intervening expansion or gas-liquid separation. In one embodiment the first output stream 30 is pressurized to greater than about 300 bars.
- the first output stream is pressurized to greater than about 400 bars. In one embodiment, the first output stream 30 is pressurized up to about 500 bars. In one embodiment, the first pump 28 is coupled to the heat-exchanger unit 22 so that the first output stream 30 pressurized by the first pump 28 passes through the heat-exchanger unit 22 thereby cooling the incoming compressed air. As used herein "coupled” merely implies fluid communication and does not prohibit the usage of intervening parts such as valves.
- the first output stream 30 may be transported for different applications.
- the first output stream 30 passes through the heat-exchanger unit 24, thereby removing some heat from the incoming compressed air from the compressor unit 20.
- the low-temperature liquid form of the first output stream 30 is comparatively more effective than gaseous nitrogen in reducing the temperature of the incoming compressed air.
- the distillation unit 26 is left with a second output stream 32 that comprises nitrogen and oxygen ( FIG. 2 ).
- the second output stream 32 may be drawn out from the distillation unit 26 and may be subjected to further distillation, using, for example a second distillation unit 36. Depending on the pressure of the second output stream 32, it may be further subjected to expansion in a second expander 34, as shown in FIG. 2 .
- the outlet pressure of the second expander 34 is near atmospheric and the temperature of the contents in a range from about -190°C to about -195°C.
- the vapor fraction of the output contents of second expander 34 is in the range from about 0.12 to 0.18.
- the stream coming out from the second expander 34 may be in a liquid state, gaseous state, or in a liquid-gas mixed state. Therefore, depending on the requirement, the second output stream 32 optionally may be subjected to a gas-liquid separation in a separator 35. In one embodiment, both the gaseous part and liquid part of the second output stream 32 are fed into the second distillation column 36.
- the second distillation unit 36 is a low pressure distillation unit. The pressure at the distillation unit may be less than about 2 bars. In one embodiment, the low pressure distillation unit 36 works at atmospheric pressure.
- the second distillation unit 36 may have one or more outputs.
- One distillation output is third output stream 38 comprising liquid oxygen.
- the third output stream 38 is about 15 mass % or more of the inlet compressed air and comprises high purity liquid oxygen.
- the liquid oxygen of the third output stream 38 is of greater than 95% purity.
- the liquid oxygen is more than about 99% pure.
- the liquid oxygen is of more than 99.9% purity.
- the temperature of the third output stream 38 produced at the distillation unit 36 is less than about -175°C. In one embodiment, the temperature of the third output stream 38 is less than about -178°C.
- the pressure of third output stream 38 is greater than atmospheric pressure.
- the third output stream 38 is further pressurized using a second pump 39.
- the third output stream 38 is pressurized to greater than about 20 bars.
- the third output stream 38 is pressurized in a range from about 30 bars to about 60 bars.
- the third output stream is pressurized up to about 100 bars of pressure.
- the third output stream 38 produced by the distillation may be transported for different applications including oxy-fuel combustion. Similar to the first output stream 30, during conveyance to the intended application, the third output stream 38 may be routed through the heat-exchanger unit 22, thereby helping to remove heat from the compressed air from the compressor unit 20.
- the low-temperature liquid form of the third output stream 38 comprising oxygen is comparatively more effective than the gaseous oxygen in reducing the temperature of the incoming compressed air.
- one output of the second distillation unit is a fourth output stream 40 comprising nitrogen and oxygen.
- the fourth output stream 40 includes both nitrogen and oxygen in gaseous form.
- the temperature of this stream is about -190°C.
- the fourth output stream 40 measures about 40-60 % of the inlet compressed air mass flow.
- the composition of the mixed stream 40 includes about 87 mole % (of fourth output stream 40) of nitrogen and 12 mole % of oxygen.
- the fourth output stream 40 may be used for different applications, including as an oxidizer in a combustion turbine. For example, if used in a combustor that generally uses air as an oxidizer, the fourth output stream 40 will reduce the NOx emission of the combustor. In one embodiment, the stream 40 may be recycled to the air compression unit 20 or to the distillation unit 26.
- the fourth output stream 40 may contribute to the cooling of compressed air passing through the heat-exchanger unit 22.
- the pressures of compressed air supplied by the compression unit 20, the pressure differences and the resultant cooling obtained through the expanders 24, 34, and the distillation conditions in the distillation units 26, 36 may be greatly varied to achieve higher purity, higher content liquid nitrogen and/or liquid oxygen streams. All such variations are believed to be apparent to one skilled in the art considering the teachings of this disclosure.
- compressor unit 20 is configured to produce compressed air to a pressure greater than about 35 bars. In one embodiment, the pressure of the compressed air is about 40 bars.
- the high-pressure compressed air is passed through the heat-exchanger unit 22 and cooled.
- the cooled compressed air from the heat-exchanger unit is subjected to expansion in an expander 24.
- the heat-exchanger unit 22 as used herein may be one unit or a combination of multiple heat-exchanger units.
- the expander 24 expands the compressed air by quickly reducing pressure ("flashing") to atmospheric pressure such that the air rapidly cools to a liquid form with a temperature less than about -185°C.
- the cooled liquid is subjected to distillation in the first distillation unit 26 to directly produce high-purity first output stream 30 comprising liquid nitrogen and a second output stream 32 comprising liquid-oxygen.
- first output stream 30 and the second output stream 32 are in liquid forms. Therefore, in one embodiment, the first distillation unit 26 is a liquid-liquid separator.
- the first output stream 30 is a liquid nitrogen stream and the second output stream 32 is a liquid oxygen stream.
- the second output stream comprising liquid oxygen may be further subjected to pressurizing by using a pump 39 and used in different applications.
- a number of heat-exchanger units and coolant streams may be effectively used to cool the air stream that is subjected to distillation in the first distillation unit 26.
- the incoming compressed air from the compressor 20 is split in to a first stream 41 and a second stream 42 using a splitter 43.
- the first stream passes through a second heat-exchanger unit 44 and third heat-exchanger unit 45 to be cooled further.
- the first stream 41 cooled through the multiple heat-exchangers 44, 45 is expanded in the expander 24.
- the cooled air coming from expander 24 may be subjected to a liquid-gas separation in a separator 25, using the liquid part for distillation unit 26 and leaving a gaseous waste stream 46 that may be routed through one or more heat-exchanger units 22, 44, 45 to further cool the incoming compressed air.
- the second stream 42 of the compressed air from splitter 43 may be optionally used in a turbine 48 and the cooled stream 42 is mixed in a mixer 49 with the gaseous waste stream 46.
- the second stream 42 and the gaseous waste stream 46 may be mixed before passing through any of the second heat-exchanger units 22, 44, and 45.
- the gaseous waste stream 46 is passed through the third heat-exchanger 45 and then mixed with the second stream 42 before passing through the second heat-exchanger unit 44, thereby effectively cooling the cooled air stream 41 passing from the third heat-exchanger 45 to the expander 24.
- the system 50 includes an ASU 12 providing oxygen output; a combustor 14 configured to receive oxygen from ASU 12 and to combust a fuel stream 58, thereby generating a flue gas 62.
- cooling system 16 is fluidly coupled to the combustor 14 through a turbine combined cycle 64.
- the gas turbine combined cycle 64 may receive flue gas 62 from the combustor 14, and use at least a part of the energy associated with the flue gas 62 to generate electricity or perform some other work, releasing an exhaust flue gas 66.
- Exhaust flue gas 66 from the gas turbine combined cycle 64 may be passed through the cooling system 16, such as, for example, a water condensation system or HRSG, to condense water from the exhaust gas 66, and to create a carbon dioxide stream 70.
- the carbon dioxide stream 70 may be stored in a storage unit 72.
- the carbon dioxide stream 70 may be directed to applications that use "high-content" carbon dioxide, such as for example, a an oil/gas recovery system 78 after optional compression in a CO 2 compressor 76.
- at least a part of the carbon dioxide stream 70 is redirected to the combustor 14, after optional compression in a CO 2 compressor 76, to be mixed with the oxygen.
- a method of generating energy in a power plant that includes a gas turbine includes operating an ASU 12 ( FIG. 4 ) to separate oxygen from air, passing fuel to the combustor 14, and combusting the fuel stream 58 in the combustor 14, in the presence of oxygen.
- a flue gas 62 is generated, comprising carbon dioxide and water.
- the flue gas 62 of the combustor 14 may be used in operating the turbine 64, e.g., to generate electricity.
- the exhaust flue gas 66 of the turbine 64 can be passed through a water condensation system 16 to separate water from the exhaust gas 66, and to produce a high-content carbon dioxide stream 70.
- the high-content carbon dioxide stream 70 is substantially free of oxygen, for safety considerations in those situations where the presence of oxygen is a serious concern.
- the carbon dioxide stream 70 may be stored, directed to other applications such as an oil recovery system, and / or compressed and fed back to the combustor 14, e.g., in combination with the compressed oxygen.
- the liquid oxygen obtained by the ASU 12 may be pumped to the pressure suitable for oxy-fuel combustion in the combustor 14, the liquid nitrogen may be pumped to a very high pressure (300-500 bars) and can be injected to the oil/gas recovery system 78.
- the oil/gas recovery system 78 is a natural gas recovery system.
- the natural gas 58 recovered from the system 78 may be fed back to the combustor 14 for the oxy-fuel combustion or stored in a natural gas storing unit 80 for using in other applications.
- liquefying both nitrogen and oxygen in the high-pressure ASU as described above allows for these products to be pumped at very low temperatures, thereby increasing the overall efficiency of the combined gas turbine plant compared to existing plants that compress nitrogen and oxygen in gaseous phases.
- the system 50 is expected to potentially provide not only a higher overall energy efficiency but also a more compact and therefore cost-effective design compared to conventional systems using a low-pressure ASU.
- the power consumption of the integrated systems explained herein is about 20% less compared to a conventional integrated system.
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Abstract
Description
- The invention relates generally to air separation units and systems incorporating the air separation units. More particularly, the invention relates to separation of nitrogen and oxygen from air in liquid form and systems incorporating these products for use in, for example, such applications as power generation and natural resource recovery.
- Exhaust streams generated by the combustion of fossil fuels in, for example, power generation systems, contain nitrogen oxides (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO) as byproducts during combustion. A method for achieving near-zero NOx, without the need for removal of NOX from the exhaust, is the oxy-fuel combustion process. In this method, pure oxygen (typically in combination with a secondary gas such as carbon dioxide) is used as the oxidizer, as opposed to using air, thereby resulting in a flue gas with negligible NOx emissions. Additionally, oxy-fuel combustion is an attractive technology for applications, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) production or sequestration, that benefit from production of CO2 with low levels of oxygen contamination. In gas turbines that operate by way of an oxy-fuel process, a CO2 separation unit is not needed, because the main component of combustion exhaust includes primarily CO2, and water (H2O). By condensing H2O a high concentration stream of CO2 may be produced and can be used for CO2 sequestration or other CO2 applications.
- An air separation unit (ASU) separates oxygen and nitrogen and is useful as an oxygen source for an oxy-fuel process and for separately providing high purity nitrogen. The high purity nitrogen obtained by ASU can be used for any of various applications, such as oil or gas reservoir management in an enhanced oil or gas recovery system, for instance. Nitrogen and carbon dioxide can be used as injection fluids in enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Nitrogen can be an economic alternative to carbon dioxide for EOR application.
- It is advantageous if the pressure of nitrogen injected into an oil well is greater than the minimum miscible pressure (MMP) of nitrogen and that oil. Nitrogen forming a miscible slug with oil aids in freeing the oil for recovery. Therefore, generally the gaseous low-pressure nitrogen supplied by the ASU is compressed to higher pressure before injecting into the oil reservoirs. However, in these systems the nitrogen separated from the oxygen in the ASU is afterwards compressed in gaseous phase to the desired pressure, which demands a significant amount of power.
- Therefore, there remains a need for a system and method for power generation that provides low levels of NOx and CO emissions, along with reduced power consumption.
- Briefly, in one aspect, the present invention resides in a system including an air separation unit. The air separation unit includes an air compression unit configured to produce compressed air at a pressure greater than about 3 bars; a heat-exchanger unit configured to receive and cool the compressed air to produce cooled air; a first distillation unit configured to receive the cooled air and produce a first output stream comprising liquid-nitrogen; and a first pump in direct communication with the first distillation unit and configured to pressurize the first output stream to a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure.
- In another aspect, the invention resides in a method including the steps of compressing air in an air compression unit to a pressure greater than about 3 bars; cooling the compressed air by passing through a heat-exchanger unit; distilling the cooled air stream in a distillation unit to produce a first stream comprising liquid-nitrogen, and a second stream; and pressurizing the first stream to a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure.
- Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
-
FIG. 1 illustrates a combined oxy-fuel turbine system; -
FIG. 2 is an air separation unit, according to an embodiment of the present invention; -
FIG. 3 is an air separation unit, according to an embodiment of the present invention; and -
FIG. 4 illustrates a turbine system, according to another embodiment of the invention. - Embodiments of the present invention include an ASU that may provide clean, pressurized liquid nitrogen and oxygen output and systems integrated with the ASU.
- In the following specification and the claims that follow, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
- In general, an oxy-fuel combined cycle
power plant system 10 includes an air separation unit (ASU) 12, acombustor 14, and a power plant withcooling system 16, as depicted inFIG. 1 . The ASU 12 separates oxygen from air, providing a supply of oxygen as an oxidizer to thecombustor 14. Thecombustor 14 is configured to burn fuel in the presence of this supplied oxygen, either alone or after mixing with CO2. Nitrogen from the ASU 12 can be stored in areservoir management unit 18 and/or used for other applications, such as, for example, recovering natural gas from gas fields or for oil recovery. Products of combustion normally contain mainly CO2, H2O and trace emissions of CO and O2. Thecooling system 16 embedded in power plant condenses H2O from exhaust downstream ofcombustor 14, resulting in exhaust gases exceeding 95% CO2 composition. - In one embodiment of the present invention, a system including an ASU is provided. The ASU is configured to liquefy nitrogen at very low temperatures. In one embodiment, the ASU is also configured to liquefy oxygen. The liquid oxygen may be pumped to a pressure suitable for oxy-fuel combustion. Additionally, in some embodiments the liquid nitrogen may be pumped to a very high pressure (300-500 bars) and injected into an oil/gas reservoir for enhanced oil /gas recovery. By liquefying both nitrogen and oxygen in the high-pressure ASU, it is possible to pump them at very low temperatures, thereby increasing the overall efficiency of the plant compared to existing plants that use gaseous nitrogen and oxygen supplied by low-pressure ASUs.
- In one embodiment, the system is configured to produce a carbon dioxide stream from exhaust products of the oxy-fuel combustor. In one embodiment, the carbon dioxide stream produced here is a high-content CO2 stream. As used herein, a "high-content CO2 stream" is defined as a stream having more than about 80% by volume of CO2. In another embodiment, a high-content CO2 stream contains more than about 90% by volume of CO2. In a further embodiment, the high-content CO2 stream contains more than about 95% by volume of CO2. A stream "substantially free of oxygen" is defined as a stream containing less than about 1% by volume of oxygen. In one embodiment, an oxygen level of less than 10 ppm in the CO2 exhaust stream is desirable. One example of an application where a high-content CO2 stream is desirable is oil recovery from depleted oil recovery wells, where CO2 stream injection is used to force oil from the well. A portion of the high-content CO2 exhaust gases may also be recirculated to the
combustor 14, for mixing with the separated O2 from theASU 12. Maintaining minimum CO emissions from the combustion helps in maintaining high combustion efficiency. - In one embodiment,
system 10 comprises anASU 12, as shown inFIG. 2 . The ASU 12 includes anair compression unit 20; a heat-exchanger unit 22; afirst distillation unit 26; and afirst pump 28. As used herein, a "unit" may be made up of a single component or made up of more than one component. For example, an air compressor unit may be one compressor or may have more than one compressors combined to produce the required air compression. - The
air compression unit 20 is configured to produce compressed air to a pressure greater than about 3 bars. In one embodiment, theair compression unit 20 is configured to produce a compressed air to a pressure greater than about 7 bars. In a further embodiment, theair compression unit 20 is configured to produce a compressed air at a pressure in a range from about 15 bars to about 60 bars. In one particular embodiment, theair compression unit 20 is configured to produce compressed air to a pressure up to about 40 bars. The compressed air passes through the heat-exchanger unit 22, where the air is cooled. The cooling of compressed air is attained by the heat-exchange between different streams that pass through the heat-exchanger unit 22. For example, cool nitrogen and / or oxygen streams separated from air may pass through the heat-exchanger unit 22 absorbing heat from the compressed air and, thereby, cooling the compressed air. - After passing through the heat-
exchanger unit 22, the cooled, compressed air may be subjected to expansion in anexpander 24, which further cools the already cooled air. In one embodiment, anexpander 24 is a valve introducing a pressure difference to the incoming cooled compressed air. In theexpander 24, the cooled compressed air gets expanded suddenly to a lower pressure, resulting in further cooled, reduced pressure-compressed air. In one embodiment, the pressure of the compressed air, after passing through theexpander 24 is less than about 5 bars. In one embodiment, the pressure of the air after passing through theexpander 24 is less than about 3 bars. In one particular embodiment disclosed further below, the expanded air coming out of theexpander 24 is at atmospheric pressure. - In one embodiment, the cooled air passed through the
expander 24 enters thefirst distillation unit 26. In one embodiment, thefirst distillation unit 26 is configured to operate at a pressure greater than about 2 bars and is called as a "high-pressure distillation unit". In one embodiment, an inlet pressure of the first distillation unit is in the range from about 3.5 bars to about 5 bars. In one embodiment, thefirst distillation unit 26 operates at atmospheric pressure. - The compressed air entering the
first distillation unit 26 is generally at relatively low temperature. In one embodiment, the temperature of the air entering thefirst distillation unit 26 is in between about -150°C and about -210°C. In one further embodiment, the temperature of the air is in the range from about -165°C to about - 185°C. - The temperature of the air entering
first distillation unit 26 is determined in part by the initial pressure of the compressed air, the ability of the heat-exchanger unit 22 to cool the compressed air and the configuration of theexpander 24 to expand the cooled air. A high pressure compressed air ends up giving out more heat at the time of expansion compared to air compressed to a lower pressure. Similarly, a heat-exchanger unit 22 that has low temperature coolant streams will effectively extract more heat from the compressed air compared to aheat exchanger unit 22 having higher temperature coolant streams. The volume, pressure difference, and the temperature of theexpander 24 may change the heat extracted from the air passing through theexpander 24. - In one embodiment, a
first output stream 30 produced from thefirst distillation unit 26 comprises liquid nitrogen. In one embodiment, thefirst output stream 30 produced from thefirst distillation unit 26 comprises more than about 25 % of the inlet compressed air mass flow and comprises high purity liquid nitrogen. In one embodiment, the liquid nitrogen offirst output stream 30 is of greater than 95% purity. In one embodiment, the liquid nitrogen is more than about 99% pure. In a particular embodiment, the liquid nitrogen is of more than 99.9% purity. In one embodiment, the temperature offirst output stream 30 produced from thefirst distillation unit 26 is less than about -175°C. In one embodiment, the temperature offirst output stream 30 is less than about -178°C. In one particular embodiment, the temperature of thefirst output stream 30 is in the range from about -178°C to about -185°C. - In one embodiment, the pressure of the
first output stream 30 is greater than atmospheric pressure. In one embodiment, the pressure of thefirst output stream 30 is greater than about 3 bars. In one particular embodiment, the pressure of the first output stream ranges from about 3.5 bars to about 5 bars. Depending on the particular application requirements, in one embodiment, thefirst output stream 30 is further pressurized using afirst pump 28. In one embodiment, thefirst pump 28 is in direct communication with thefirst distillation unit 26. As used herein the "direct communication" between thepump 28 anddistillation unit 26 means that thefirst output stream 30 from thedistillation unit 26 is directly pumped to high pressure without intervening expansion or gas-liquid separation. In one embodiment thefirst output stream 30 is pressurized to greater than about 300 bars. In a further embodiment, the first output stream is pressurized to greater than about 400 bars. In one embodiment, thefirst output stream 30 is pressurized up to about 500 bars. In one embodiment, thefirst pump 28 is coupled to the heat-exchanger unit 22 so that thefirst output stream 30 pressurized by thefirst pump 28 passes through the heat-exchanger unit 22 thereby cooling the incoming compressed air. As used herein "coupled" merely implies fluid communication and does not prohibit the usage of intervening parts such as valves. - The
first output stream 30 may be transported for different applications. In one embodiment, thefirst output stream 30 passes through the heat-exchanger unit 24, thereby removing some heat from the incoming compressed air from thecompressor unit 20. The low-temperature liquid form of thefirst output stream 30 is comparatively more effective than gaseous nitrogen in reducing the temperature of the incoming compressed air. - After distilling out liquid nitrogen, in one embodiment, the
distillation unit 26 is left with asecond output stream 32 that comprises nitrogen and oxygen (FIG. 2 ). Thesecond output stream 32 may be drawn out from thedistillation unit 26 and may be subjected to further distillation, using, for example asecond distillation unit 36. Depending on the pressure of thesecond output stream 32, it may be further subjected to expansion in asecond expander 34, as shown inFIG. 2 . In one embodiment, the outlet pressure of thesecond expander 34 is near atmospheric and the temperature of the contents in a range from about -190°C to about -195°C. In one embodiment, the vapor fraction of the output contents ofsecond expander 34 is in the range from about 0.12 to 0.18. Depending on the temperature of thesecond output stream 32 and pressure ranges ofsecond expander 34, the stream coming out from thesecond expander 34 may be in a liquid state, gaseous state, or in a liquid-gas mixed state. Therefore, depending on the requirement, thesecond output stream 32 optionally may be subjected to a gas-liquid separation in aseparator 35. In one embodiment, both the gaseous part and liquid part of thesecond output stream 32 are fed into thesecond distillation column 36. In one embodiment, thesecond distillation unit 36 is a low pressure distillation unit. The pressure at the distillation unit may be less than about 2 bars. In one embodiment, the lowpressure distillation unit 36 works at atmospheric pressure. - The
second distillation unit 36 may have one or more outputs. One distillation output isthird output stream 38 comprising liquid oxygen. In one embodiment, thethird output stream 38 is about 15 mass % or more of the inlet compressed air and comprises high purity liquid oxygen. In one embodiment, the liquid oxygen of thethird output stream 38 is of greater than 95% purity. In one embodiment, the liquid oxygen is more than about 99% pure. In a particular embodiment, the liquid oxygen is of more than 99.9% purity. In one embodiment, the temperature of thethird output stream 38 produced at thedistillation unit 36 is less than about -175°C. In one embodiment, the temperature of thethird output stream 38 is less than about -178°C. - In one embodiment, the pressure of
third output stream 38 is greater than atmospheric pressure. Depending on the particular application requirements, in one embodiment, thethird output stream 38 is further pressurized using asecond pump 39. In one embodiment, thethird output stream 38 is pressurized to greater than about 20 bars. In a further embodiment, thethird output stream 38 is pressurized in a range from about 30 bars to about 60 bars. In a particular embodiment, the third output stream is pressurized up to about 100 bars of pressure. - The
third output stream 38 produced by the distillation may be transported for different applications including oxy-fuel combustion. Similar to thefirst output stream 30, during conveyance to the intended application, thethird output stream 38 may be routed through the heat-exchanger unit 22, thereby helping to remove heat from the compressed air from thecompressor unit 20. The low-temperature liquid form of thethird output stream 38 comprising oxygen is comparatively more effective than the gaseous oxygen in reducing the temperature of the incoming compressed air. - In one embodiment, one output of the second distillation unit is a
fourth output stream 40 comprising nitrogen and oxygen. In one embodiment, thefourth output stream 40 includes both nitrogen and oxygen in gaseous form. In one embodiment, the temperature of this stream is about -190°C. In one embodiment, depending on the usage ofsecond expander 34 and/or the distillation conditions at thesecond distillation unit 36, thefourth output stream 40 measures about 40-60 % of the inlet compressed air mass flow. In this embodiment, the composition of themixed stream 40 includes about 87 mole % (of fourth output stream 40) of nitrogen and 12 mole % of oxygen. - The
fourth output stream 40 may be used for different applications, including as an oxidizer in a combustion turbine. For example, if used in a combustor that generally uses air as an oxidizer, thefourth output stream 40 will reduce the NOx emission of the combustor. In one embodiment, thestream 40 may be recycled to theair compression unit 20 or to thedistillation unit 26. - Similar to the
first output stream 30 andthird output stream 38, in one embodiment, thefourth output stream 40 may contribute to the cooling of compressed air passing through the heat-exchanger unit 22. - The pressures of compressed air supplied by the
compression unit 20, the pressure differences and the resultant cooling obtained through theexpanders distillation units - In one variation shown in
FIG. 3 ,compressor unit 20 is configured to produce compressed air to a pressure greater than about 35 bars. In one embodiment, the pressure of the compressed air is about 40 bars. The high-pressure compressed air is passed through the heat-exchanger unit 22 and cooled. The cooled compressed air from the heat-exchanger unit is subjected to expansion in anexpander 24. The heat-exchanger unit 22 as used herein may be one unit or a combination of multiple heat-exchanger units. In one embodiment, theexpander 24 expands the compressed air by quickly reducing pressure ("flashing") to atmospheric pressure such that the air rapidly cools to a liquid form with a temperature less than about -185°C. The cooled liquid is subjected to distillation in thefirst distillation unit 26 to directly produce high-purityfirst output stream 30 comprising liquid nitrogen and asecond output stream 32 comprising liquid-oxygen. In one embodiment, both thefirst output stream 30 and thesecond output stream 32 are in liquid forms. Therefore, in one embodiment, thefirst distillation unit 26 is a liquid-liquid separator. In one particular embodiment, thefirst output stream 30 is a liquid nitrogen stream and thesecond output stream 32 is a liquid oxygen stream. The second output stream comprising liquid oxygen may be further subjected to pressurizing by using apump 39 and used in different applications. - A number of heat-exchanger units and coolant streams may be effectively used to cool the air stream that is subjected to distillation in the
first distillation unit 26. In one such variation, the incoming compressed air from thecompressor 20 is split in to afirst stream 41 and asecond stream 42 using asplitter 43. The first stream passes through a second heat-exchanger unit 44 and third heat-exchanger unit 45 to be cooled further. Thefirst stream 41 cooled through the multiple heat-exchangers expander 24. Optionally, the cooled air coming fromexpander 24 may be subjected to a liquid-gas separation in aseparator 25, using the liquid part fordistillation unit 26 and leaving agaseous waste stream 46 that may be routed through one or more heat-exchanger units - The
second stream 42 of the compressed air fromsplitter 43 may be optionally used in aturbine 48 and the cooledstream 42 is mixed in amixer 49 with thegaseous waste stream 46. Depending on the temperature of thesecond stream 42, thegaseous waste stream 46, and the cooling demands of the heat-exchangers second stream 42 and thegaseous waste stream 46 may be mixed before passing through any of the second heat-exchanger units gaseous waste stream 46 is passed through the third heat-exchanger 45 and then mixed with thesecond stream 42 before passing through the second heat-exchanger unit 44, thereby effectively cooling the cooledair stream 41 passing from the third heat-exchanger 45 to theexpander 24. - One particular, advantageous application of the ASUs described above is in the integration of these ASUs to an oxy-fuel gas turbine combined cycle as shown in
FIG. 4 . Thesystem 50 includes anASU 12 providing oxygen output; acombustor 14 configured to receive oxygen fromASU 12 and to combust afuel stream 58, thereby generating aflue gas 62. In one embodiment, coolingsystem 16 is fluidly coupled to thecombustor 14 through a turbine combinedcycle 64. The gas turbine combinedcycle 64 may receiveflue gas 62 from thecombustor 14, and use at least a part of the energy associated with theflue gas 62 to generate electricity or perform some other work, releasing anexhaust flue gas 66.Exhaust flue gas 66 from the gas turbine combinedcycle 64 may be passed through thecooling system 16, such as, for example, a water condensation system or HRSG, to condense water from theexhaust gas 66, and to create acarbon dioxide stream 70. Thecarbon dioxide stream 70 may be stored in astorage unit 72. In another embodiment, thecarbon dioxide stream 70 may be directed to applications that use "high-content" carbon dioxide, such as for example, a an oil/gas recovery system 78 after optional compression in a CO2 compressor 76. In another embodiment, at least a part of thecarbon dioxide stream 70 is redirected to thecombustor 14, after optional compression in a CO2 compressor 76, to be mixed with the oxygen. - In one embodiment, a method of generating energy in a power plant that includes a gas turbine is provided. The method includes operating an ASU 12 (
FIG. 4 ) to separate oxygen from air, passing fuel to thecombustor 14, and combusting thefuel stream 58 in thecombustor 14, in the presence of oxygen. In this manner, aflue gas 62 is generated, comprising carbon dioxide and water. Theflue gas 62 of thecombustor 14 may be used in operating theturbine 64, e.g., to generate electricity. Theexhaust flue gas 66 of theturbine 64 can be passed through awater condensation system 16 to separate water from theexhaust gas 66, and to produce a high-contentcarbon dioxide stream 70. The high-contentcarbon dioxide stream 70 is substantially free of oxygen, for safety considerations in those situations where the presence of oxygen is a serious concern. As explained above, thecarbon dioxide stream 70 may be stored, directed to other applications such as an oil recovery system, and / or compressed and fed back to thecombustor 14, e.g., in combination with the compressed oxygen. - While the liquid oxygen obtained by the
ASU 12 may be pumped to the pressure suitable for oxy-fuel combustion in thecombustor 14, the liquid nitrogen may be pumped to a very high pressure (300-500 bars) and can be injected to the oil/gas recovery system 78. In one embodiment, the oil/gas recovery system 78 is a natural gas recovery system. Thenatural gas 58 recovered from thesystem 78 may be fed back to thecombustor 14 for the oxy-fuel combustion or stored in a naturalgas storing unit 80 for using in other applications. - Advantageously, liquefying both nitrogen and oxygen in the high-pressure ASU as described above allows for these products to be pumped at very low temperatures, thereby increasing the overall efficiency of the combined gas turbine plant compared to existing plants that compress nitrogen and oxygen in gaseous phases.
- Additionally, as the operation pressure of the ASU (-3-40 bar) is much lower than the pressure (300-500 bar) at which the nitrogen is injected in to the
recovery system 78, thesystem 50 is expected to potentially provide not only a higher overall energy efficiency but also a more compact and therefore cost-effective design compared to conventional systems using a low-pressure ASU. In one embodiment, the power consumption of the integrated systems explained herein is about 20% less compared to a conventional integrated system. - While only certain features of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, many modifications and changes will occur to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of the invention.
Claims (15)
- A system (10,50), comprising:an air separation unit (ASU) (12) comprising:an air compression unit (20) configured to produce compressed air at a pressure greater than about 3 bars;a heat-exhanger unit (22) configured to receive and cool the compressed air to produce cooled air;a first distillation unit (26) configured to receive the cooled air and produce a first output stream (30) comprising liquid-nitrogen; anda first pump (28) in direct communication with the first distillation unit (26) and configured to pressurize the first output stream (30) to a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure.
- The system (50) of claim 1, wherein the first pump (28) is configured to pressurize the first output stream (28) to a pressure in a range from about 300 bars to about 500 bars.
- The system (50) of claim 1 or 2, further comprising a natural gas or oil recovery well configured to receive the first output stream (30) from the first pump (28).
- The system (50) of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first pump (28) is fluidly coupled to the heat-exchanger (22).
- The system (50) of any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the first distillation unit (26) is configured to produce a second output stream (32) comprising nitrogen and oxygen.
- The system (50) of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the ASU (12) further comprises a second distillation unit (36) configured to receive the second output stream (32) from the first distillation unit (26) and produce a third output stream (38) comprising liquid oxygen.
- The system (50) of claim 6, wherein the ASU (12) further comprises a second pump (39) in direct communication with the second distillation unit 36 and configured to pressurize the third output stream (38) to a pressure in a range from about 30 bars to about 60 bars.
- The system of claim 7, wherein the second pump (39) is fluidly coupled to the heat-exchanger (22).
- The system of any preceding claim, further comprising an oxy-fuel combustor (14) configured to receive the third output stream (38) from the ASU (12) and produce a flue gas, a turbine (48) that is configured to receive the flue gas from combustor (14) and produce a turbine exhaust flue gas, a condenser configured to receive the turbine exhaust flue gas and produce a carbon dioxide stream, and an oil recovery well (78) configured to receive the carbon dioxide stream.
- The system of any preceding claim, wherein the air compression unit (20) is configured to produce compressed air at a pressure in a range from about 15 bars to about 60 bars.
- The system of claim 10, wherein the ASU (12) further comprises an expander (24) in fluid communication with heat-exchanger unit (22) and first distillation unit (26) and configured to expand the cooled air to atmospheric pressure.
- A method, comprising:compressing air in an air compression unit (12) to a pressure greater than about 3 bars;cooling the compressed air by passing through a heat-exhanger unit (22);distilling the cooled air stream in a distillation unit (26) to produce a first stream (30) comprising liquid-nitrogen, and a second stream (32); andpressurizing the first stream (30) to a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure.
- The method of claim 12, further comprising distilling the second stream (32) in a second distillation unit (36) to produce a third stream (38) comprising liquid oxygen.
- The method of claim 12 or 13, further comprising pressurizing the third stream (38) to a pressure in a range from about 30 bars to about 60 bars.
- The method of any of claims 12 to 14, further comprising pressurizing the second stream (32) to a pressure in arange from about 30 bars to about 60 bars.
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US13/174,056 US20130000352A1 (en) | 2011-06-30 | 2011-06-30 | Air separation unit and systems incorporating the same |
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EP2541175A2 true EP2541175A2 (en) | 2013-01-02 |
EP2541175A3 EP2541175A3 (en) | 2018-03-21 |
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EP12173515.3A Withdrawn EP2541175A3 (en) | 2011-06-30 | 2012-06-26 | Air separation unit and systems incorporating the same |
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US10106430B2 (en) | 2013-12-30 | 2018-10-23 | Saudi Arabian Oil Company | Oxycombustion systems and methods with thermally integrated ammonia synthesis |
Family Cites Families (14)
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US4407135A (en) * | 1981-12-09 | 1983-10-04 | Union Carbide Corporation | Air separation process with turbine exhaust desuperheat |
US4775399A (en) * | 1987-11-17 | 1988-10-04 | Erickson Donald C | Air fractionation improvements for nitrogen production |
FR2700205B1 (en) * | 1993-01-05 | 1995-02-10 | Air Liquide | Method and installation for producing at least one gaseous product under pressure and at least one liquid by air distillation. |
GB9500120D0 (en) * | 1995-01-05 | 1995-03-01 | Boc Group Plc | Air separation |
US5724805A (en) * | 1995-08-21 | 1998-03-10 | University Of Massachusetts-Lowell | Power plant with carbon dioxide capture and zero pollutant emissions |
US5666823A (en) * | 1996-01-31 | 1997-09-16 | Air Products And Chemicals, Inc. | High pressure combustion turbine and air separation system integration |
CN1323222C (en) * | 2001-06-15 | 2007-06-27 | 南非石油和天然气私人有限公司 | Process for recovery of oil from natural oil reservoir |
WO2003018958A1 (en) * | 2001-08-31 | 2003-03-06 | Statoil Asa | Method and plant for enhanced oil recovery and simultaneous synthesis of hydrocarbons from natural gas |
FR2862004B3 (en) * | 2003-11-10 | 2005-12-23 | Air Liquide | METHOD AND INSTALLATION FOR ENRICHING A GASEOUS FLOW IN ONE OF ITS CONSTITUENTS |
CN100424451C (en) * | 2006-05-15 | 2008-10-08 | 白杨 | Super low pressure low temperature method for separating air and making oxygen |
DE102007031759A1 (en) * | 2007-07-07 | 2009-01-08 | Linde Ag | Method and apparatus for producing gaseous pressure product by cryogenic separation of air |
CA2728244A1 (en) * | 2008-06-19 | 2009-12-23 | William Brigham | Hybrid air seperation method with noncryogenic preliminary enrichment and cryogenic purification based on a single component gas or liquid generator |
PL2473706T3 (en) * | 2009-09-01 | 2019-12-31 | Exxonmobil Upstream Research Company | Low emission power generation and hydrocarbon recovery systems and methods |
CA2779712A1 (en) * | 2009-12-17 | 2011-07-14 | Greatpoint Energy, Inc. | Integrated enhanced oil recovery process injecting nitrogen |
-
2011
- 2011-06-30 US US13/174,056 patent/US20130000352A1/en not_active Abandoned
-
2012
- 2012-06-26 EP EP12173515.3A patent/EP2541175A3/en not_active Withdrawn
- 2012-07-02 CN CN201210228197.5A patent/CN102853633B/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
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CN102853633A (en) | 2013-01-02 |
EP2541175A3 (en) | 2018-03-21 |
CN102853633B (en) | 2016-08-10 |
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