A theoretical and experimental study is performed for the bulk separation of a ternary mixture by pressure swing adsorption. Three concentrated products can be obtained by cycling the pressure in the adsorber. Three models are formulated for the cyclic process: equilibrium, Knudsen diffusion, and Knudsen plus surface diffusion. The latter model provides the best results when compared with the experimental data, due to the important contribution of surface flux to the total flux in the sorbent pores.
SCOPEAn increasing number of commercial applications are being discovered for pressure swing adsorption (PSA) because of its low energy requirements and costs. The applications are, however, somewhat limited to gas purification processes, with the only bulk separation being for 0, or N, from air. Multicomponent bulk separation by PSA using one sorbent and a single PSA unit, despite its promising commercial value, has not appeared in the literature. In this study, an H,/CH,/ CO, mixture (one-third each by volume) is separated by PSA using activated carbon and involving five basic cyclic steps: I repressurization, I 1 adsorption, 111 cocurrent depressurization, IV countercurrent blowdown, and V purge. Following the order of increasing adsorption strength, H, is produced in step II and in the early stage of step 111. The later cut in step 111 yields CH,, and steps IV and V produce CO, . A basic understanding of the cyclic process is obtained by modeling. Three models are formulated and compared with experimental results: equilibrium model, Knudsen diffusion model, and Knudsen plus surface diffusion model.
CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCEBulk separation of the ternary mixture H,/CH,/CO, is accomplished by PSA using a single sorbent. Highpurity products of H, and CH, are obtained, whereas the product purity for CO, only reaches 60% due to the low selectivity between CO, I CH, on activated carbon. Of the three models for the cyclic process, the Knudsen plus surface diffusion model provides the best results when compared to the experimental data. Due to the high surface coverage, surface diffusion significantly contributes to the total flux in the sorbent pores, generally over 50% in the PSA process. Accounting for the strong dependence of surface diffusivity on surface coverage, the effects of purge/feed ratio, pressure ratio, feed rate, and end pressure of depressurization on the separation are predictable by the model. A basic understanding of the bed dynamics also is presented.