Distillation column arrangement for air separation

摘要

A packaged column arrangement for an air separation plant in which a cold box 54 is filled with an insulating material and a higher pressure column 10 and a lower pressure column 12 are mounted within the cold box 54. The lower pressure column 10 has an intermediate reboiler 28 in fluid communication with the higher pressure column 10 for condensing nitrogen enriched vapour overhead formed within the higher pressure column 10 in order to produce reflux for the columns. The columns 10 and 12 have a sufficiently vertically staggered juxtaposition within the cold box 54 that the reflux stream flows under gravity to the higher pressure column 10. <IMAGE>