According to an embodiment of the invention, nitrogen gas of an air separation unit is used to cool the gas formed in a reservoir of liquid from an MEOH unit that is supplied with oxygen by said air separation unit.

The present invention relates to a system for treating and cooling a hydrocarbon stream, comprising—a gas treatment stage comprising a pre-cooler to cool at least part of the hydrocarbon feed against cooling water, —a first cooling stage comprising one or more first water coolers, —a second cooling stage comprising one or more second water coolers. The system comprises a cooling water unit arranged to receive a stream of cooling water and supply a first part of the stream of cooling water to a chilling unit to obtain a stream of chilled cooling water and pass the stream of chilled cooling water to a selection of the at least one pre-cooler, the one or more first water coolers and the one or more second water coolers.

A chiller can be configured as a chiller for a gasification system or other type of system or plant. In some embodiments, the chiller can be configured to utilize a single heat source, such as low grade waste heat in the form of hot water, and/or low pressure steam to drive one or more absorption-based chillers to cool inlet air to one or more adsorbers of a pre-purification unit (PPU). In the event of the detection of an undesired impurity spike (e.g. carbon dioxide spike, etc.) an additional amount of heat source can be withdrawn from the gasification system to increase the level of cooling the absorption chiller can provide to improve the removal of impurities. An automated control loop can be utilized in some embodiments. The control loop can be configured to check for an impurity concentration and adjust operations accordingly.

A method for reducing heat bumps following regeneration of adsorbers in an air separation unit is provided. The air separation unit can include a front end purification unit, a main air compressor, a main heat exchanger, a distillation column system, a regeneration gas heater, and a regeneration gas cooler, wherein the front end purification unit comprises a first adsorber and a second adsorber. The method can include the steps of: regenerating the first adsorber while the second adsorber operates in an adsorption cycle, wherein the step of regenerating the first adsorber further includes the steps of heating the first adsorber and then cooling the first adsorber, wherein during the step of cooling the first adsorber, a regeneration gas sourced from the distillation column system and cooled in the main heat exchanger is further cooled in a regeneration gas cooler prior to being used to cool the first adsorber.

A method and apparatus for reducing heat bumps following regeneration of adsorbers in an air separation unit is provided. Certain embodiments of the current invention utilize the two waste streams available at very different temperatures from the two main exchangers (low-pressure and high-pressure core exchangers) for regeneration of the front-end purification adsorbers in the air separation unit (ASU) to reduce its energy consumption without compromising the stability of process. Certain embodiments help to eliminate/minimize high air temperature disturbance (heat bump) for the process downstream of the front-end purification unit during the transition from offline to online.

An air separation apparatus and process, which produces gaseous oxygen and/or nitrogen products at an elevated pressure through internal compression of respective liquid products, are disclosed. Split-core main heat exchangers are employed to warm up product streams generated in an air rectification unit against 1) a main feed air stream in the low-pressure heat exchanger and 2) at least one boosted pressure air stream in the high-pressure exchanger. Because the boosted pressure air stream is at a higher pressure and temperature than the main feed air stream, after separate heat exchange in the split main heat exchangers, the subsidiary waste nitrogen stream exiting the high-pressure heat exchanger is also warmer than the subsidiary waste nitrogen stream exiting the low-pressure heat exchanger. The warmer waste nitrogen stream is fed into the air purification unit for regeneration purposes and the cooler waste nitrogen stream is introduced into the nitrogen water tower to perform cooling duty. The two subsidiary waste nitrogen streams are also connected on the warm side of the main heat exchangers to allow flexible distribution of the flow.

A carbon dioxide capture system includes a first heat exchanger that exchanges heat between an exhaust stream and a lean carbon dioxide effluent stream. The carbon dioxide capture system also includes a second heat exchanger in flow communication with the first heat exchanger. The second heat exchanger is configured to cool the exhaust stream such that a condensate is formed, and the second heat exchanger is configured to channel a condensate stream for injection into the lean carbon dioxide effluent stream. A first turboexpander including a first compressor is driven by a first turbine. The first compressor is coupled in flow communication with the first heat exchanger. The first turbine is coupled in flow communication with the first heat exchanger and configured to expand the lean carbon dioxide effluent stream. The carbon dioxide capture system further includes a carbon dioxide membrane unit coupled in flow communication with the first compressor.

The present invention relates to a cryogenic air separation process that provides high pressure oxygen for an oxy-fired combustion of a fuel (e.g., a carbonaceous fuel). The air separation process can be directly integrated into a closed cycle power production process utilizing a working fluid, such as CO.sub.2. Beneficially, the air separation process can eliminate the need for inter-cooling between air compression stages and rather provide for recycling the adiabatic heat of compression into a process step in further methods wherein an additional heat supply is beneficial.

A method for reducing heat bumps following regeneration of adsorbers in an air separation unit is provided. The air separation unit can include a front end purification unit, a main air compressor, a main heat exchanger, a distillation column system, a regeneration gas heater, and a regeneration gas cooler, wherein the front end purification unit comprises a first adsorber and a second adsorber. The method can include the steps of: regenerating the first adsorber while the second adsorber operates in an adsorption cycle, wherein the step of regenerating the first adsorber further includes the steps of heating the first adsorber and then cooling the first adsorber, wherein during the step of cooling the first adsorber, a regeneration gas sourced from the distillation column system and cooled in the main heat exchanger is further cooled in a regeneration gas cooler prior to being used to cool the first adsorber.

Method and plant for generation of synthesis gas, comprising the steps of air fractionation to give oxygen, nitrogen and tail gas, gasification of a hydrocarbonaceous fuel to give crude synthesis gas and cleaning of the crude synthesis gas by removal of acid gas by means of cryogenic absorption, wherein the absorbent is cooled by means of a compression coolant circuit and the cooling water used is cooled by evaporative cooling by means of the tail gas obtained in the air fractionation.