PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF OXYGEN AT HIGH PRESSURE BY CRYOGENIC DISTILLATION

摘要

In a process for the production of oxygen at a pressure of at least 70 bars abs by cryogenic distillation of air, compressed air (1) is cooled in an exchanger system (E01-LP,E01-HP) and sent to a column system (K1,K2) wherein it is separated to form a liquid (31) containing at least 80% mol. oxygen and a fluid (33) rich in nitrogen and a quantity Q of the said liquid (31) is removed from the column system (K1,K2), pressurized to a vaporization pressure Pv of at least 70 bars abs and vaporized in an exchanger (EOl-HP) of the exchanger system (EOl-LPJiOl-HP) wherein at least one air stream (13,15) is sent to the exchanger (EOl-HP) in which the liquid (31) vaporizes and the highest pressure of any air stream (13,15) sent to the exchanger in which the liquid (31) vaporizes is a pressure P which is less than or equal to Pv and wherein, if any liquid product is produced by the process, the total amount of liquid product or products is less than 20% of Q.