BYA.DEVIKA

AIR SEPARATION PROCESS

GUIDEM.SRINIVAS

Contents

• Introduction• Properties• Applications• Available technologies• Comparison of the processes

Introduction

• An air separation plant separates atmospheric air into its primary components nitrogen, oxygen, argon and other

rare inert gases.

Air Products has produced over 2000 air separation plants and currently owns and operates over 300 air

separation plants

Composition of dry air

Gas % by Volume % by Weight Parts per Million

(V)Chemical Symbol

Nitrogen 78.08 75.47 780805 N2

Oxygen 20.95 23.20 209450 O2

Argon 0.93 1.28 9340 Ar

Carbon Dioxide 0.039 0.0606 390 CO2

Properties of Oxygen

• Colourless• Odorless• Gas phase(Oxygen changes from a gas to a liquid at a

temperature of -182.96°C)• Allotropes –Dioxygen, Ozone• Slightly soluble in water• Denser than air• Supports combustion but does not burn• Occur in many compounds including water,co2,iron ores

Properties of nitrogen

• Colourless• Odorless• Inert diatomic gas• Molecular nitrogen condenses at −195.79 °C. • Occur in many industrial compounds, such ammonia, nitric

acid, organic nitrates

Applications Oxygen

• Metal manufacturing• Chemicals• Petroleum refineries• Glass and Ceramics Industry• Pulp and Paper

Manufacturing• Health Care

Nitrogen

• Nitrogen blanketing• Manufacturing and

construction• Multi industries• Food and beverages• Rubber and plastic industry• Health care

Available technologies

•Cryogenic process•Pressure Swing Adsorption •Membrane separation

Cryogenic distillation• The most common method for Air separation is Cryogenic distillation• Cryogenic Air separation is the preferred technology for producing very high purity O2 and N2

Cryogenic distillation

Cryogenic distillation column

Argon recovery

Pressure swing adsorption

Membrane technologies

Comparison with other processes

Future work

• Material and energy balance• Equipment design• Safety aspects• Process control of the unit • Materials of construction• Plant location and layout• Cost estimation