A PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING AND DELIVERING AN ENRICHED GAS FRACTION

摘要

An improved sieve bed design to manage breakthrough and the mass transfer zo ne by way of volumetric division. An empty space in the product end is separate d from adsorbent-filled sieve space in the feed end by a mid-diffuser plate. The ratio of the empty product end void space to the adsorbent filled sieve space within a sieve bed may be determin ed by the relative percentages of the gasses to be separated and the bulk loading factor of the molecular sieve. A product end void space of the correct volume may ensure the maximum volume o f nitrogen has been adsorbed before breakthrough occurs. In operation, pressure in the siev e bed empty space and sieve filled space may be equal at any instant. This contains breakthrou gh to the location of the mid-diffuser plate. The mass transfer zone may be static at the point of the mid-diffuser plate and as such, gas separation is a function of pressure within the bed.