Simulation and optimization of an industrial PSA unit

The Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) units have been used as a low cost alternative to the usual gas separation processes. Its largest commercial application is for hydrogen purification systems. Several studies have been made about the simulation of pressure swing adsorption units, but there are onl...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Barg, Christian, Ferreira, José Maria Pinto, Trierweiler, Jorge Otávio, Secchi, Argimiro Resende
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2000
País:Brasil
Institución:Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)
Repositorio:Repositório Institucional da UFRGS
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:www.lume.ufrgs.br:10183/75857
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10183/75857
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Processos químicos : Simulação
Processos químicos
Otimização
Pressure swing adsorption
Simulation
Optimization
Gas separation
Descripción
Sumario:The Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) units have been used as a low cost alternative to the usual gas separation processes. Its largest commercial application is for hydrogen purification systems. Several studies have been made about the simulation of pressure swing adsorption units, but there are only few reports on the optimization of such processes. The objective of this study is to simulate and optimize an industrial PSA unit for hydrogen purification. This unit consists of six beds, each of them have three layers of different kinds of adsorbents. The main impurities are methane, carbon monoxide and sulfidric gas. The product stream has 99.99% purity in hydrogen, and the recovery is around 90%. A mathematical model for a commercial PSA unit is developed. The cycle time and the pressure swing steps are optimized. All the features concerning with complex commercial processes are considered.