Extraction of high purity oxygen using waste gas recovery of existing liquid nitrogen plant Srinivasan K V1,*, Arolkar Vijay1, Jesudasan John2 1Low Temperature Facility, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai 2Department of Condensed Matter Physics & Materials Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai *E-mail ID: kvsrini@tifr.res.in
Online published on 4 December, 2023. The Stirling cycle-based liquid nitrogen plant incorporates the carbon molecular sieve-based Pressure Swing Adsorber(PSA) system to extract the nitrogen gas from the compressed atmospheric air condensed in the Stirling cryo-generator. However, the waste gas from the above PSA system is oxygen-rich nitrogen gas. It is an attempt to recover the above oxygen-rich waste gas and separate the enriched oxygen gas for medical use without affecting the production of the Stirling liquid nitrogen plant. The waste gas at room temperature is collected, condensed and distilled using a cryogenic distillation column. The above concept was successfully demonstrated in a prototype setup at the Low Temperature Facility (LTF) of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, which can produce 83 to 85% pure oxygen using waste gas capture techniques. The ongoing work is to enhance the oxygen purity above 90%, enhance the yield of liquid oxygen, and optimise the liquid nitrogen consumption. The paper presents the methodology and techniques adapted to achieve the unique possibility of extracting oxygen from waste gas without affecting the performance of the existing liquid nitrogen plant. Top Keywords Stirling Cryo-generator, Condenser, Liquid Air, Cryo-Distillation, Oxygen. Top |