Oxygen
Oxygen (O2) constitutes approximately 21% of the air, has a gaseous specific gravity of 1.1, and has a boiling point of -297.3°F (-183°C). Oxygen is produced by air separation processes that use either cryogenic liquefaction and distillation or vacuum swing adsorption (VSA) separation. Oxygen can be stored and shipped as either a gas or a cryogenic liquid.
The principal uses of oxygen stem from its strong oxidizing and life-sustaining properties. It is used in medicine for therapeutic purposes and in the metals industry for steelmaking and metal-cutting applications. In the chemical and petroleum industries, oxygen is used in the production of a wide variety of fuels and chemicals. Oxygen is used in the pulp and paper industry for a variety of applications, including pulp bleaching, black liquor oxidation, and lime kiln enrichment. In the glass industry, oxygen/fuel combustion is used to reduce particulate and NOx emissions in melting operations. Oxygen is also used for gasification applications for producing synethesis gas to make chemicals, fuels, electricity, hydrogen or steam.
Cryogenic Liquid Installation
Gas is stored in a liquid form at very low temperature. When the gas is required the liquid is vaporised for supply to the customer’s process.
For cryogenic applications (which require a low temperature liquid supply) the liquid can be taken from the storage tank to the customer process via an insulated line.
A typical installation for liquid oxygen, nitrogen, argon and carbon dioxide
Prism Oxygen Generator – VSA
A typical VSA (Vacuum Swing Adsorber) gas generator producing oxygen at a customer site
Air Products PRISM VSA systems produce oxygen across a range of purities, pressures and flowrates. Utilising state of the art technology, on-site generation of oxygen provides cost savings compared to liquid oxygen delivered by traditional methods.
Compressed air enters the adsorption bed which contains a high-efficiency molecular sieve. This sieve preferentially adsorbs nitrogen and waste gases efficiently generating an oxygen product stream which is delivered directly to the customer.
Modular construction and skid mounting make these systems compact and easy to install, and telemonitoring means that start-up and shutdown can be done both locally and remotely.
Prism® Nitrogen & Oxygen Plants
Cryogenic Air Separation Units offer a bespoke, but modular design for easy installation which will produce a highly reliable supply of high purity gaseous oxygen and/or nitrogen at a customers site. Both liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen are available as co-products.
Compressed air is cooled down to cryogenic temperatures and fed into a distillation column system. The air is distilled to produce the required oxygen and nitrogen products. Returning product streams are used to cool the compressed air feed. The gaseous product is then passed to the customer.