Process Configurations and Simulations for a Novel Single-Column Cryogenic Air Separation Process

Abstract

In this article, a novel single-column atmospheric cryogenic air separation process is proposed to reduce energy consumption through the implementation of thermal pump technique. Different from the conventional double-column cryogenic process, the new single-column distillation includes a nitrogen compressor acting as a thermal pump, which makes use of the latent thermal energy of the streams in the distillation column. To verify the validity of the proposed separation process, four typical configurations of the single-column processes are constructed and simulated on the ASPEN PLUS platform with the operation conditions: air flow rate at 50 000 N m3, inlet temperature of the distillation column at 87 K, and various nitrogen compression temperatures. The conventional double-column cryogenic air separation process is also simulated as the base to compare the energy consumptions between the conventional and the novel processes. On the basis of such a comparison, the novel single-column cryogenic air separat...