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Process intensification in PSA processes for upgrading synthetic landfill and lean natural gases

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Abstract

Process intensification aims at reducing the size of equipment by orders of magnitude and is actively perused in separation processes. Its feasibility in Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) processes has been explored. A 4-bed PSA and a 3-bed PSA, which emulate the moving bed processes, and duplex PSA and a modified duplex PSA have been selected for the exploratory studies. Simulation studies on the separation of a mixture of CH4–CO2 over 5A zeolite were carried out to compare the performance of these processes. An index has been proposed to quantify the process intensification. The 3-bed PSA and the modified duplex PSA exhibited superior performance compared to the other two for a purity of 99.9 mol% of both the products. However, the performances of the processes other than duplex were comparable when purities were set at 95 mol%. In 3-bed PSA a modest process intensification of four times reduction in size and two times reduction in energy requirement appears to be feasible if benchmarked against the PSA based on the variant of the Skarstrom cycle.

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Abbreviations

b :

Langmuir parameter (m3/mol)

c :

Concentration in gas phase (mol/m3)

C A :

Cost of adsorbent (thousand US $/kg of adsorbent)

C AA :

Annual cost of adsorbent (thousand US $/y⋅(mol/s))

C AC :

Annual capital cost of adsorber (thousand US $/y⋅(mol/s))

C AE :

Annual cost of energy (thousand US $/y⋅(mol/s))

C AR :

Annual running cost (thousand US $/y⋅(mol/s))

C E :

Energy cost (thousand US $/kWh)

C LO :

Cost of component loss (thousand US $/y⋅(mol/s))

d p :

Particle diameter (mm)

D :

Diameter of bed (mm)

D L0 :

Dispersion coefficient (m2/s)

D M :

Molecular diffusivity (m2/s)

E :

Energy (kJ/mol⋅feed)

f :

Friction factor

g c :

Gravitational constant (m/s2)

\(I_{PI} , I_{PI}'\) :

Index for process intensification (thousand US $/y⋅(mol/s))

k i :

Linear driving force constant (s−1)

L :

Bed length (m)

L e :

Equivalent length of the valve (m)

n :

Number of moles

N :

Number of components

P :

Pressure (bar)

\(\mathcal{P}\) :

Productivity of CH4 (LSTP/h⋅kg of adsorbent)

P H :

Adsorption pressure (bar)

P I :

Intermediate desorption pressure (bar)

P L :

Desorption pressure (bar)

P1, P2:

Pressures used in (9) (bar)

q :

Amount adsorbed in solid phase (mol/m3)

q e :

Amount adsorbed in solid phase at equilibrium with gas phase (mol/m3)

q s :

Saturation constant (mol/m3)

Q T :

Total amount adsorbed in solid phase (mol/m3)

R :

Universal Gas constant (bar⋅m3/mol⋅K)

R E , R R :

Extract, Raffinate reflux ratio

T :

Operating temperature (K)

t :

Time (s)

t f :

Feed step time (s)

t Ib :

Intermediate blowdown time (s)

t fb :

Final blowdown time (s)

v f :

Superficial velocity (m/s)

x :

Mole fraction in gas phase

x f :

Mole fraction of CO2 in feed

X :

Mole fraction of CO2 in gas phase

Y :

Mole fraction of CO2 in solid phase

z :

Axial position in a adsorption bed (m)

ε B :

Bed voidage

μ :

Viscosity of gas (kg/m⋅s)

γ :

Atomicity of gas

ρ b :

Bulk density of bed (kg/m3)

ρ g :

Density of gas (kg/m3)

i :

Component i

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, 208016, India

    G. Spoorthi, R. S. Thakur & Nitin Kaistha

  2. Process Intensification Consultants, Hyderabad, 500049, India

    D. P. Rao

Authors
  1. G. Spoorthi
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  2. R. S. Thakur
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  3. Nitin Kaistha
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  4. D. P. Rao
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Correspondence to R. S. Thakur.

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Spoorthi, G., Thakur, R.S., Kaistha, N. et al. Process intensification in PSA processes for upgrading synthetic landfill and lean natural gases. Adsorption 17, 121–133 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-010-9302-6

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