Dual pressure swing adsorption units for gas separation and purification

This work presents a new application of pressure swing adsorption (PSA) technology. Using the dual PSA concept it is possible to separate a gaseous stream and obtain two high purity products. The dual PSA concept resembles distillation in its spatial distribution with two well-defined subsections: stripping and rectifying. After the gas mixture passes through the stripping section, the most-adsorbed gas is produced with high purity and the less-adsorbed gas is produced as top product from the rectifying section. Stripping and rectifying sections can operate under different operating conditions, have different adsorbents, and, most importantly, have different cycle scheduling. © 2012 American Chemical Society.