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Comparative performance of industrial-scale oxygen production by pressure swing adsorption and vacuum pressure swing adsorption under plateau environment

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Abstract

Oxygen conditioning on a large scale could effectively improve living and working conditions to relieve the hypoxia of plateau environment. Industrial-scale pressure swing adsorption (PSA) and vacuum pressure swing adsorption (VPSA) medical oxygen production systems are designed for supplying oxygen at high altitude of 3800 m areas. The effects of process parameters and key steps on the performance of PSA and VPSA processes have been experimentally compared and analyzed. The results show that the adsorption time, pressure equalization and purge step are key factors of affecting the oxygen production performance. The PSA cycle with pressure equalization of product end and continuous purge could produce ~ 93% O2 with recovery of 45.4% from compressed air and the minimum energy consumption is 1.21 kW·Nm− 3. The VPSA cycle with pressure equalization of product end and intermittent purge could produce ~ 93% O2 with recovery of 54% from super-atmospheric air and the minimum energy consumption is 0.68 kW·Nm− 3.

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The datasets and materials used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

The authors further acknowledge funding provided by Changzhou University under Grant ZMF21020388, ZMF21020032 and QZX22020021 and the innovation training projects for the Jiangsu College students under Grant 202210292106Y.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou, 213164, Jiangsu Province, PR China

    Xianqiang Zhu, Yuan Sun, Shidong Zhou, Fangrui Feng, Jiahui Liu, Jiayun Ma, Shuhui Li & Zehao Niu

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  1. Xianqiang Zhu
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  2. Yuan Sun
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  3. Shidong Zhou
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  8. Zehao Niu
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Contributions

Xianqiang Zhu, Yuan Sun, Shidong Zhou and wrote the main manuscript text and Xianqiang Zhu, Jiahui Liu, Jiayun Ma and Shuhui Li, Zehao Niu prepared Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6; Tables 1 and 2. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yuan Sun.

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Zhu, X., Sun, Y., Zhou, S. et al. Comparative performance of industrial-scale oxygen production by pressure swing adsorption and vacuum pressure swing adsorption under plateau environment. Adsorption (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-023-00391-1

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