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Concept
Pressure swing adsorption
Summary
Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) is a technique used to separate some gas species from a mixture of gases (typically air) under pressure according to the species' molecular characteristics and affinity for an adsorbent material. It operates at near-ambient temperature and significantly differs from the cryogenic distillation commonly used to separate gases. Selective adsorbent materials (e.g., zeolites, (aka molecular sieves), activated carbon, etc.) are used as trapping material, preferentially adsorbing the target gas species at high pressure. The process then swings to low pressure to desorb the adsorbed gas.
Pressure swing adsorption process (PSA) is based on the phenomenon that under high pressure, gases tend to be trapped onto solid surfaces, i.e., to be "adsorbed". The higher the pressure, the more gas is adsorbed. When the pressure is dropped, the gas is released, or desorbed. PSA can be used to separate gases in a mixture because different gases are adsorbed onto a given solid surface more or less strongly. For example, if a gas mixture such as air is passed under pressure through a vessel containing an adsorbent bed of zeolite that attracts nitrogen more strongly than oxygen, a fraction of nitrogen will stay in the bed, and the gas exiting the vessel will be richer in oxygen than the mixture entering. When the bed reaches the limit of its capacity to adsorb nitrogen, it can be regenerated by decreasing the pressure, thus releasing the adsorbed nitrogen. It is then ready for another cycle of producing oxygen-enriched air.
Using two adsorbent vessels allows near-continuous production of the target gas. It also allows a pressure equalisation, where the gas leaving the vessel being depressurised is used to partially pressurise the second vessel. This results in significant energy savings, and is a common industrial practice.
Aside from their ability to discriminate between different gases, adsorbents for PSA systems are usually very porous materials chosen because of their large specific surface areas.
Official source
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