An air separation device for distilling air at a low temperature, includes a high-pressure column to separate high-pressure raw material air into high-pressure nitrogen gas and high-pressure oxygen-enriched liquefied air; a low-pressure column to separate the high-pressure oxygen-enriched liquefied air into low-pressure nitrogen gas, low-pressure liquefied oxygen, and argon-enriched liquefied oxygen; an argon column to separate the argon-enriched liquefied oxygen having a pressure higher than the pressure into argon gas and medium-pressure liquefied oxygen; first and second indirect heat-exchangers; first and second gas-liquid separation chambers; a first/second passage which communicates the gas/liquid phase of the low-pressure column and the gas phase of the second gas-liquid separation chamber; and a first/second opening/closing mechanism located on the first/second passage.

The present invention provides methods and system for power generation using a high efficiency combustor in combination with a CO.sub.2 circulating fluid. The methods and systems advantageously can make use of a low pressure ratio power turbine and an economizer heat exchanger in specific embodiments. Additional low grade heat from an external source can be used to provide part of an amount of heat needed for heating the recycle CO.sub.2 circulating fluid. Fuel derived CO.sub.2 can be captured and delivered at pipeline pressure. Other impurities can be captured.

A cryogenic method for capturing carbon dioxide in the gaseous emissions produced from the fossil-energy combustion of solid, liquid, or gaseous fossil fuels in a power generation installation employing an OxyFuel mode of combustion. The method includes: producing essentially pure carbon dioxide under elevated pressure and at near ambient temperatures in a Carbon-Dioxide Capture Component from the carbon-dioxide content of at least a part of the gaseous emissions produced from fossil-energy fueled combustion in the Oxyfuel mode of combustion; separating atmospheric air in an Air Separation Component into a stream of liquid nitrogen and a stream of high-purity oxygen; supplying low temperature, compressed purified air to a cryogenic air separation unit (cold box) within the Air Separation Component; collecting low temperature thermal energy from coolers employed within the Carbon-Dioxide Capture Component and the Air Separation Component; and converting the collected thermal energy to electricity within a Thermal-Energy Conversion Component.

A method for the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) using a cold fluid provided from a cryogenic unit, such as an air separation unit or nitrogen liquefier, is provided. The method may include the steps of: withdrawing a nitrogen stream from a cryogenic unit, wherein the nitrogen stream is at a temperature between about 155 C. to about 193 C.; and liquefying a natural gas stream in a natural gas liquefaction unit using the nitrogen stream from the cryogenic unit.

Method for recovering energy when compressing a gas using a compressor system with two or more compression stages, with each stage having a compressor element. Downstream from at least two compressor elements there is a heat exchanger having a primary and a secondary part. The coolant is guided successively in series through the secondary part of at least two heat exchangers, and the guiding sequence is chosen such that the temperature at the inlet of the primary part of at least one subsequent heat exchanger is higher than or equal to the temperature at the inlet of the primary part of a preceding heat exchanger, relative to the direction of flow of the coolant. At least one heat exchanger is provided with a tertiary part for a coolant.

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods useful for power production. In particular, a power production cycle utilizing CO.sub.2 as a working fluid may be configured for simultaneous hydrogen production. Beneficially, substantially all carbon arising from combustion in power production and hydrogen production is captured in the form of carbon dioxide. Further, produced hydrogen (optionally mixed with nitrogen received from an air separation unit) can be input as fuel in a gas turbine combined cycle unit for additional power production therein without any atmospheric CO.sub.2 discharge.

A distributor module for a process plant, in particular an air-separation plant, which can be connected by means of fluid lines to a main-air-compressor arrangement, at least two adsorbers, each of which can be operated in an adsorption phase and a regeneration phase, and a main-heat-exchanger arrangement, comprising a compressor connection, comprising, for each adsorber to be connected, a pair of connections having a first adsorber connection and a second adsorber connection, comprising a first heat-exchanger connection and a second heat-exchanger connection, and comprising a residual-gas connection or a residual-gas outlet; and a valve-and-flap assembly which is designed to act, according to choice, for each pair of connections, in a first state of the pair of connections, or; in a second state of the pair of connections.

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods that provide power generation using predominantly CO.sub.2 as a working fluid. In particular, the present disclosure provides for the use of a portion of the heat of compression from a CO.sub.2 compressor as the additive heating necessary to increase the overall efficiency of a power production system and method.

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.

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for power production utilizing an ion transfer membrane (ITM) unit. An air stream and a fuel stream can be passed through the ITM unit so that the fuel is at least partially oxidized or combusted to form an outlet stream comprising CO.sub.2. The CO.sub.2 stream can be compressed and expanded to generate power.