PSA WITH ADSORBENTS SENSITIVE TO CONTAMINANTS

摘要

Disclosed embodiments address contaminant management challenges that arise during production of desirably contaminant free product fluid in the operation of PSA equipment, and further address the more serious challenges that arise under intermittent operation of PSA equipment. One embodiment includes a breather fluidly coupled to a feed end of an adsorber with a contaminant-sensitive adsorbent. The breather can be coupled to the feed end through a shutoff valve closed during production and open during shutdown. Other embodiments use particular sealing strategies for additional sealing of the apparatus, or at least components thereof, from contaminant ingress. For example, a buffer seal for receiving a buffer gas having a contaminant vapor content substantially the same as or less than a product gas produced by a pressure swing adsorption process over the adsorbers. As a second example, a parking seal can be used that typically is engaged when the apparatus is parked.