A system and method for producing argon that uses a higher pressure column, a lower pressure column, and an argon column collectively configured to produce nitrogen, oxygen and argon products through the cryogenic separation of air. The present system and method also employs a once through argon condensing assembly that is disposed entirely within the lower pressure column that is configured to condense an argon rich vapor stream from the argon column against the oxygen-enriched liquid from the higher pressure column to produce an argon liquid or vapor product. The control system is configured for optimizing the production of argon product by ensuring an even flow split of the oxygen-enriched liquid is distributed to the argon condenser cores and by adjusting the flow rate of the argon removed from the argon condensing assembly to maintain the liquid/vapor balance in the argon condensing assembly within appropriate limits.

An argon reflux condensation system and method in which a plurality of once-through condensers are connected to an argon column of an air separation plant to condense argon-rich vapor streams for production of reflux to the argon column. Condensation of the argon-rich vapor streams is brought about through indirect heat exchange with crude liquid oxygen streams that partially vaporize and are introduced into a lower pressure column of the plant for further refinement. The flow rate of the crude liquid oxygen streams are sensed and controlled at locations in the air separation plant where the crude liquid oxygen is in a liquid state and in proportion to the size of the once-through heat exchangers. Prior to flowing into the once-through condensers, the partially vaporized crude oxygen stream enters a phase separator which separates the crude oxygen vapor from the crude liquid oxygen. The separated crude oxygen vapor bypasses the once-through condensers and is mixed with the vaporized oxygen stream that exits the one-through condensers. Feed stream flow rate to the argon column is controlled in response to air flow rate to the plant and product flow rate is controlled in response to the feed stream flow rate to the argon column.

An argon reflux condensation system and method in which a plurality of once-through heat exchangers are connected to an argon column of an air separation plant to condense argon-rich vapor streams for production of reflux to the argon column. Condensation of the argon-rich vapor streams is brought about through indirect heat exchange with crude liquid oxygen streams that partially vaporize and are introduced into a lower pressure column of the plant for further refinement. The flow rate of the crude liquid oxygen streams are sensed and controlled at locations in the plant where the crude liquid oxygen is in a liquid state and in proportion to the size of the once-through heat exchangers. Feed stream flow rate to the argon column is controlled in response to air flow rate to the plant and product flow rate is controlled in response to the feed stream flow rate to the argon column.

An argon reflux condensation system and method in which a plurality of once-through condensers are connected to an argon column of an air separation plant to condense argon-rich vapor streams for production of reflux to the argon column. Condensation of the argon-rich vapor streams is brought about through indirect heat exchange with crude liquid oxygen streams that partially vaporize and are introduced into a lower pressure column of the plant for further refinement. The flow rate of the crude liquid oxygen streams are sensed and controlled at locations in the air separation plant where the crude liquid oxygen is in a liquid state and in proportion to the size of the once-through heat exchangers. Prior to flowing into the once-through condensers, the partially vaporized crude oxygen stream enters a phase separator which separates the crude oxygen vapor from the crude liquid oxygen. The separated crude oxygen vapor bypasses the once-through condensers and is mixed with the vaporized oxygen stream that exits the one-through condensers. Feed stream flow rate to the argon column is controlled in response to air flow rate to the plant and product flow rate is controlled in response to the feed stream flow rate to the argon column.

An argon reflux condensation system and method in which a plurality of once-through heat exchangers are connected to an argon column of an air separation plant to condense argon-rich vapor streams for production of reflux to the argon column. Condensation of the argon-rich vapor streams is brought about through indirect heat exchange with crude liquid oxygen streams that partially vaporize and are introduced into a lower pressure column of the plant for further refinement. The flow rate of the crude liquid oxygen streams are sensed and controlled at locations in the plant where the crude liquid oxygen is in a liquid state and in proportion to the size of the once-through heat exchangers. Feed stream flow rate to the argon column is controlled in response to air flow rate to the plant and product flow rate is controlled in response to the feed stream flow rate to the argon column.

A process for recovering at least one fluid (e.g. xenon gas and/or krypton gas, etc.) from a feed gas can include utilization of a compression system, primary heat exchanger unit, a pre-purification unit (PPU), and other units to separate and recover at least one desired fluid. In some embodiments, fluid flows output from a first heat exchanger or separation system of the plant can be split so that a portion of a stream is output for downstream processing to purify xenon (Xe) and/or krypton (Kr) product flow(s) while another portion of the stream is recycled to a compression system or the PPU to undergo further purification and heat exchange so that the product output for downstream processing has a higher concentration of Xe or Kr. Some embodiments can be configured to provide an improved recovery of Xe and/or Kr as well as an improvement in operational efficiency.

An argon reflux condensation system and method in which a plurality of once-through condensers are connected to an argon column of an air separation plant to condense argon-rich vapor streams for production of reflux to the argon column. Condensation of the argon-rich vapor streams is brought about through indirect heat exchange with crude liquid oxygen streams that partially vaporize and are introduced into a lower pressure column of the plant for further refinement. The flow rate of the crude liquid oxygen streams are sensed and controlled at locations in the air separation plant where the crude liquid oxygen is in a liquid state and in proportion to the size of the once-through heat exchangers. Prior to flowing into the once-through condensers, the partially vaporized crude oxygen stream enters a phase separator which separates the crude oxygen vapor from the crude liquid oxygen. The separated crude oxygen vapor bypasses the once-through condensers and is mixed with the vaporized oxygen stream that exits the one-through condensers. Feed stream flow rate to the argon column is controlled in response to air flow rate to the plant and product flow rate is controlled in response to the feed stream flow rate to the argon column.

An argon reflux condensation system and method in which a plurality of once-through heat exchangers are connected to an argon column of an air separation plant to condense argon-rich vapor streams for production of reflux to the argon column. Condensation of the argon-rich vapor streams is brought about through indirect heat exchange with crude liquid oxygen streams that partially vaporize and are introduced into a lower pressure column of the plant for further refinement. The flow rate of the crude liquid oxygen streams are sensed and controlled at locations in the plant where the crude liquid oxygen is in a liquid state and in proportion to the size of the once-through heat exchangers. Feed stream flow rate to the argon column is controlled in response to air flow rate to the plant and product flow rate is controlled in response to the feed stream flow rate to the argon column.

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.

A method for the cryogenic separation of air, in which method an air separation plant with a rectification column arrangement is used, which plant has a pressure column, a low-pressure column, a raw argon column and pure argon column. In the method, evaporation gas from a head gas condensation device associated with the raw argon column is partially or completely fed into the low-pressure column in a first feed-in region, whereas evaporation gas from a head gas condensation device associated with the pure argon column and excess liquid from this head gas condensation device are partially or completely fed into the low-pressure column in a shared second feed-in region. In one embodiment, flash gas forming during the expansion of cooling fluid into the head gas condensation device associated with the raw argon column can be partially or completely fed into the low-pressure column in the second feed-in region.