Process for the purification of a major component from a mixture with light and heavy components

摘要

The major component from a feed stream (101) containing at least 90 mole% of said component with at least one light i.e. more volatile­ component and at least one heavy i.e. less volatile­ component is purified by distillation in thermally linked (109) higher and lower pressure columns (111, 103). The light component or heavy component is separated from the feed (101) in one column (101; 111) and the major component (113) is separated from the remaining mixture (107) in the other column (111;103). A stream (105) enriched in the light component and a stream (115) enriched in the heavy component are withdrawn from respective distillation columns (103; 111).. The process is applicable to the purification and recovery of electronic-grade oxygen from a standard-grade oxygen supply. <IMAGE>