Disclosed herein are rapid cycle pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process for separating O.sub.2 from N.sub.2 and/or Ar. The processes use a carbon molecular sieve (CMS) adsorbent having an O.sub.2/N.sub.2 and/or O.sub.2/Ar kinetic selectivity of at least 5 and an O.sub.2 adsorption rate (1/s) of at least 0.2000 as determined by linear driving force model at 1 atma and 86 F.

The present invention relates to an integrated method and apparatus for providing a synthesis gas to a cryogenic separation unit installed for separating synthesis gas into products selected from carbon monoxide, crude hydrogen, methane-rich fuel and syngas with a particular H.sub.2:CO ratio. More specifically, the invention relates to the purification of synthesis gas routed to a downstream cryogenic separation unit and minimizing temperature disturbances in the separation unit.

A temperature swing adsorption process for removing a target component from a gaseous mixture, said process being carried out in a plurality of reactors, wherein each reactor performs: (a) adsorption of the target component providing a loaded adsorbent and a waste stream; (b) heating of the loaded adsorbent and desorption of target component, providing an output stream; (c) cooling of the adsorbent; a rinse step (a1) before the heating (b), wherein the loaded adsorbent is contacted with a rinse stream containing the target component, producing a purge stream depleted of the target component; a purge step (b1) before the cooling (c), wherein the adsorbent is contacted with the purge stream provided by another reactor while performing the rinse step (a1), thus producing an output stream containing the target component, wherein said rinse stream comprises at least a portion of the output stream provided by another reactor while performing the purge step (b1).

A temperature swing adsorption process for removing a target component from a gaseous mixture (111) containing water and at least one side component, said process comprising: (a) at least one adsorption step, providing a target component-loaded adsorbent and at least one waste stream (112) depleted of the target component; (b) a desorption step, comprising heating of the loaded adsorbent to a desorption temperature (T.sub.des) and providing a first output stream (116) containing the desorbed target component; (c) a conditioning step; (d) at least one target component-releasing releasing step bringing the solid adsorbent to a temperature lower than said desorption temperature (T.sub.des) and providing at least one second output stream (117) containing an amount of the target component and containing water; (e) separating water from said second output stream(s) (117) and (f) subjecting the so obtained water-depleted stream(s) to said adsorption step or to at least one of said adsorption steps.

An activated carbon device for adsorbing solvent from a flow of air is regenerated by feeding heated inert gas to the activated carbon and by applying a reduced pressure to the heated activated carbon.

A device for drying compressed gas with an inlet for compressed gas to be dried originating from a compressor and an outlet for dried compressed gas, where this device includes a number of vessels that are filled with a regeneratable drying agent and a controllable valve system that connects the aforementioned inlet and outlet to the aforementioned vessels, where the device includes at least three vessels, where the aforementioned valve system is such that at least one vessel is always being regenerated, while the other vessels dry the compressed gas, where due to the control of the valve system the vessels are each successively regenerated in turn.

Adsorbers have many purposes in chemical, gas-processing, and petrochemical plants. Adsorbers may be used to remove components from gas streams. Adsorbers may be subjected to various issues, including but not limited to moisture breakthrough, spent catalyst, too high or too low pressure drop, over or under heating, over or under cooling, too high or too low flow rates, which can affect their performance or result in a shutdown of the adsorbers. Monitoring the adsorbers and the processes using adsorbers may be performed to determine if the adsorbent bed is reaching saturation, other problems are occurring, or if equipment failures are imminent. Monitoring also helps to predict behavior or problems in different adsorbers used in the same plant or in other plants and/or processes.

Embodiments of the disclosure provide a method and a Claus tail gas treatment system for sulfur recovery. A tail gas stream is fed to a hydrogenation reactor to produce a hydrogenated gas stream by converting sulfur-containing compounds to hydrogen sulfide. The hydrogenated gas stream is fed to a quench tower to produce a quenched gas stream by condensing and recovering liquid water via a water condensate stream. The quenched gas stream is fed to a first stage adsorption unit to produce a first outlet gas stream by separating water via a first byproduct stream from hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen. The first outlet stream is fed to a second stage adsorption unit to produce a second outlet gas stream by separating carbon dioxide and nitrogen via a second byproduct stream. The second outlet stream includes hydrogen sulfide. The second outlet stream can be fed to a Claus unit.

The present invention relates to a gas-filtering system (1000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000) comprising: an input (1100) for the gas, a reactor (1301, 1302, 1303) for filtering the gas at the input (1100) and thus obtaining a filtered gas, an output (1200) for the filtered gas, a vacuum generator (1401, 1402) for generating a vacuum inside the reactor (1301, 1302, 1303), where the vacuum generator (1401, 1402) is configured so as to apply a first predetermined vacuum value (VI) in a first vacuum phase (T2) and so as to apply a second predetermined vacuum value (V2) in a second vacuum phase (T3); the filtering system (1000, 3000, 4000) further comprising a flow controller (1501, 1502, 1503) connected at the output to the reactor (1301, 1302, 1303), where the flow controller (1501, 1502, 1503) is configured so as to block the introduction of the filtered gas into the reactor (1301, 1302, 1303) during the first vacuum phase (T2), and where the flow controller (1501, 1502, 1503) is configured so as to allow the introduction of the filtered gas and/or a second gas into the reactor (1301, 1302, 1303), starting from the output (1200) during the second vacuum phase (T3).

A hydrogen production apparatus including a desulfurizer, a reformer, a CO transformer a gas flow path, and a purge gas supply path which is provided where a purge gas is supplied to an upstream side of a pressure feeding apparatus in the gas flow path, prior to a stopping operation, a purging step of replacing gas within the gas flow path with the purge gas and filling the purge gas into the gas flow path is performed, and in a start-up operation in which a heating means is operated to increase the temperature of the gas within the gas flow path, which is performed prior to a hydrogen purification operation, a pressure increasing step of supplying the purge gas from the purge gas supply path to the closed circulation circuit and increasing the pressure within the closed circulation circuit is performed.