Atmospheric gas separation method.

摘要

Cryogenically sepg. a mixt. of atmospheric gases comprises: (a) sepg. liq. and gaseous phases of the mixt. by countercurrently passing them through structured packing; (b) operating the column at >2 bars absolute pressure and a vapour rate of the vapour phase that is less than critical vapour rate at which the column floods and which varies with the liq. rate of the liq. phase; (c) setting the min. and critical vapour rates at which the column floods in accordance with experimentally derived data for max. column utilisation w.r.t. packing vol. or column throughput; in which (d) sepn. performance w.r.t. height equiv. of a theoretical plate (HETP) increases with the increase in pressure so that a lower than prior art height of structured packing can be used to obtain a partic. sepn. Also claimed are a number of separate aspects of the process.