A method for obtaining an air product in an air separating system in which a liquid fraction is obtained from feed air and used to provide the air product and in which the liquid fraction is temporarily stored in a tank arrangement. A tank arrangement with at least two tanks is used, and the liquid fraction is fed to at least one of the tanks and/or is removed from at least one of the tanks in order to provide the air product. In the process, the liquid fraction is not fed to and removed from any one of the tanks at the same time, and the composition of the liquid fraction in a tank is ascertained prior to each removal of the liquid fraction from the tank. An air separating system is also described.

An enclosure for a column for low-temperature distillation comprises a distillation column, which has a circular cross section and is to be thermally insulated, the column containing liquid during use, at least one pipe attached to the column for transporting a liquid, a parallelepipedal casing enclosing the column in a sealed manner, pulverulent thermal insulation filling the space between the column or columns and the casing, a liquid-retaining tank, which has a flat bottom and four side walls, defining a liquid-retaining space, the tank being arranged inside the casing below the column in order to collect liquid that has leaked from the column, the tank being made from stainless steel or from aluminium and the casing being made from carbon steel, the column resting on the bottom of the tank through a skirt, the skirt being a cylinder made from stainless steel and having the same diameter as the column, the liquid-retaining space containing pulverulent thermal insulation.

Process and apparatus for the separation of a compressed feed air stream to produce an oxygen product using a distillation column having a lower-pressure column and a higher-pressure column, a higher-pressure heat exchanger and a lower-pressure heat exchanger where the gaseous nitrogen expander receives a nitrogen-enriched fraction from a position intermediate the warmer end and the colder end of the higher-pressure heat exchanger.

In a method for separating air by cryogenic distillation in a system of columns comprising a first column operating at a first pressure and a second column operating at a second pressure which is lower than the first column, the temperature T1 at which an airflow leaves, after cooling, the heat exchanger by rising towards the cold end of said heat exchanger and enters the first column is at least 1? C., preferably at least 2? C., higher than the dew point of the airflow.

The method and the device arc used for the cryogenic decomposition of air in a distillation column system for separating nitrogen and oxygen, said system having a first high-pressure column (23), a low-pressure column (25, 26), and three condenser-evaporators, namely a high-pressure column head condenser (27), a low-pressure column bottom evaporator (28), and an auxiliary condenser (29; 228).

One object of the present invention is to provide an air separation method and an air separation apparatus which can collect a larger amount of nitrogen gas, liquefied oxygen, and liquefied nitrogen which have higher pressure than the operating pressure in the low-pressure column while inhibiting a decrease of the argon recovery, and the present invention provides an air separation method comprising a step in which the low-pressure liquefied oxygen at the bottom part of the low-pressure column is reboiled by the argon gas at the top part of the argon column and the middle-pressure nitrogen gas at the top part of the middle-pressure column, and a step in which the middle-pressure liquefied oxygen at the bottom part of the argon column is reboiled by the high-pressure nitrogen gas at the top part of the high-pressure column.

A system and method for neon recovery in a double column or triple column air separation unit is provided. The neon recovery system comprises a non-condensable stripping column configured to produce a liquid nitrogen-rich liquid column bottoms and a non-condensable gas containing overhead and one or more condensing units arranged to produce a crude neon vapor stream that contains greater than about 50% mole fraction of neon with the overall neon recovery exceeding 95%. In addition, there is minimal liquid nitrogen consumption and since much of the liquid nitrogen is recycled back to the lower pressure column of the air separation unit, there is minimal impact on the recovery of other products from the air separation unit.

The plant is used for producing oxygen by cryogenic air separation. The plant has a high-pressure column, a low-pressure column and a main condenser. An argon-elimination column is in fluid connection with an intermediate point of the low-pressure column and is connected to an argon-elimination column head condenser. An auxiliary column has a sump region, into which gas is introduced from the argon-elimination column head condenser. The head of the auxiliary column is connected to a return flow liquid line, in order to introduce a liquid stream from the high-pressure column or the head condenser. The liquid stream has an oxygen content which is at least equal to that of air. At least one part of the crude liquid oxygen from the sump of the high-pressure column is fed to the auxiliary column at a first intermediate point.

This specification relates to operating industrial facilities, for example, crude oil refining facilities or other industrial facilities that include operating plants that process natural gas or recover natural gas liquids.

This specification relates to operating industrial facilities, for example, crude oil refining facilities or other industrial facilities that include operating plants that process natural gas or recover natural gas liquids.