Adsorptive oxygen enrichment of air with mixtures of molecular sieve zeolites

US5656066A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• BAYER HEALTHCARE LLC · DE

Inventors

• Gerhard Reiss · Krefeld, DE
• Lothar Puppe · Burscheid, DE
• Bruno Hees · Langenfeld, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: May 13, 1996
• Grant date: Aug 12, 1997
• Expiry date: May 13, 2016

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10S95/902
• WIPO field: Chemical engineering
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

An improved process for the oxygen enrichment of air by vacuum swing adsorption, pressure swing adsorption or a combination thereof, wherein the improvement comprises providing at least one packing at each of the air inlet to and air outlet from the adsorber, the packing at the air inlet side of the adsorber comprising Na-Ca zeolite X with an SiO.sub.2 /Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 ratio of 2.0 to 2.5 and with a CaO/Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 ratio of 0.4 to 0.75, the ratio being dependent upon the air inlet temperature, at an air inlet temperature of 20.degree. to 30.degree. C., the CaO/Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 ratio of the Na-Ca zeolite X at the inlet zone being 0.4 to 0.6, at an air inlet temperature of 30.degree. to 40.degree. C., the CaO/Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 ratio of the Ca zeolite X at the inlet zone being 0.55 to 0.65 and at an air inlet temperature of 40.degree. to 50.degree. C., the CaO/Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 ratio of the Na-Ca zeolite X at the inlet zone being 0.6 to 0.75, the packing at the air outlet side of the adsorber comprising Na-Ca zeolite A with a CaO/Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 ratio of 0.5 to 1.0 or Na-Ca zeolite X with CaO/Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 ratio of 0.4 to 1.0, above the CaO/Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 ratio of the Na-Ca …