| 摘要 |
A process for producing a substantially oxygen-free inert gas product such as argon containing not more than one ppm by volume of oxygen and not more than 1 volume per million of water vapour comprises introducing hydrogen into a compressed crude argon gas stream which contains oxygen. The hydrogen is added at a rate at least sufficient to meet the stoichiometric requirement for reaction with the oxygen impurity to form water vapour. The argon stream passes through a first catalytic reactor 5, in which the oxygen impurity reacts at elevated temperature with hydrogen to form water vapour. The resulting gas stream contains less than 500 vpm of oxygen. It is cooled in a heat exchanger 8 and flows into one of vessels 30 and 32. It first encounters a first layer of adsorbent 34 or 36 effective to remove water vapour therefrom, then a layer of oxidation catalyst 38 or 40 which enables residual oxygen in the argon to react with residual hydrogen to form water vapour, and finally a second layer of adsorbent 42 or 44 effective to remove the water vapour formed in the layer 38 or 40. <IMAGE> |
