Processes and apparatuses for treating a sour synthesis gas are provided. The process comprises passing the sour synthesis gas stream to an acid gas removal unit to provide a treated synthesis gas stream and a CO.sub.2 rich stream. At least a portion of the CO.sub.2 rich stream is passed to a thermal oxidizer unit to provide a treated CO.sub.2 gas stream. At least a portion of the treated synthesis gas stream is passed to a pressure swing adsorption unit to obtain a purified hydrogen stream and a tail gas stream. At least a portion of the tail gas stream is passed to the thermal oxidizer unit.

In a method for separating a synthesis gas containing carbon monoxide and hydrogen, a synthesis gas flow from a synthesis gas source is compressed in a compressor and separated into at least three gaseous products. If there is insufficient synthesis gas, at least three separation products are recycled in the compressor in order to separate said products.

A process for removing hydrogen and methanol from a CO2 stream which contains hydrogen and methanol as contaminants, wherein hydrogen and methanol are removed by contacting the CO2 stream with a catalyst which oxidizes hydrogen to water and methanol to carbon dioxide, obtaining a purified CO2 stream.

A method of removing buffer gas from a mixture comprising the buffer gas and hyperpolarized noble gas is described. The method includes reacting the buffer gas to produce a reaction product different to the buffer gas. The buffer gas may be reactively removed by one or more of oxidation, reduction, polymerization and binding reactions with solid surfaces. The buffer gas may be molecular hydrogen and/or molecular nitrogen. Apparatus for carrying out the method are also disclosed.

Disclosed herein are methods and systems to isolate nitrogen from a mixture of gases. In an embodiment, a method of isolating nitrogen from a gaseous mixture involves contacting the gaseous mixture with a superparamagnetic catalyst to form a reaction mixture, and exposing the reaction mixture to a fluctuating magnetic field at ambient conditions.

The invention relates to a method for producing helium from a source gas stream (1) including at least helium, methane, nitrogen and hydrogen, comprising at least the following consecutive steps: step a): injecting said source gas stream (1) into at least one compressor (3); step b): eliminating the hydrogen and the methane by reacting the stream (4) obtained from step a) with oxygen; step c): eliminating at least the impurities from step b) by temperature swing adsorption (TSA); step d): partially condensing the stream (8) obtained from step c) in order to produce a stream (10) of liquid nitrogen and a gas stream (11) comprising mostly helium; step e): purifying the gas stream (11) obtained from step d) in order to increase the helium content by pressure swing adsorption (PSA) by eliminating the nitrogen and the impurities contained in the gas stream (11) obtained from step d).

The present provides a helium gas separation and recovery process involving cryogenic fractionation process, which comprises cooling a dehydrated high-pressure gas stream while maintain velocity and pressure of the stream; reducing pressure of the dehydrated high-pressure gas stream via a Joule-Thompson's process to obtain a partially liquefied gas stream; and iii) subjecting the partially liquefied gas stream to at least one gas-liquid separation process to obtain at least one liquid stream and a gaseous stream comprising helium, and a residual amount of the gaseous components; recycling the liquid stream obtained in step iii) for use as cooling refrigerant to cool the dehydrated high-pressure gas stream; and purifying the unrefined helium gas stream using pressure swing adsorption (PSA) and/or membrane separation process to obtain a helium product stream having a purity of 98.0 mole % or more.

An electricity generation apparatus is disclosed. An exemplary apparatus includes a plasma container for containing a plasma sustained by radioactive decay. The plasma container has an inlet through which, in use of the apparatus, water can be introduced to the plasma container, and an outlet through which, in use of the apparatus, material can be expelled from the container. The exhausted material can include hydrogen and oxygen resulting from the dissociation of water molecules caused by interactions within the plasma. A separator can separate hydrogen from the material exhausted from the plasma container, which separator is coupled to the outlet, and a generator can generate electricity using the hydrogen as a fuel.

A method is provided for refining an argon gas, in which oxygen is added to the argon gas containing hydrogen, carbon monoxide(CO), and oxygen as impurities so that the hydrogen and the CO are converted into water and carbon dioxide in a catalyst tower, or hydrogen is added to the argon gas so that the oxygen is converted into the water; the method including: monitoring the hydrogen, the CO, and the oxygen on an outlet side of the catalyst tower; and at least one of adding the oxygen to the argon gas when any one of the hydrogen and the CO is detected on the outlet side of the catalyst tower, and adding the hydrogen when the oxygen is detected, wherein the oxygen or the hydrogen to be added is intermittently added to the catalyst tower relative to continuous supply of the argon gas to the catalyst tower.

A method for extending useful life of a sorbent for purifying a gas by sorption of an impurity is provided. The method generating a electrical discharge within the gas to obtain a spectral emission representative of a concentration of the impurity. The method also includes monitoring the concentration of the impurity according to the spectral emission. The method also includes lowering the concentration of the impurity by conversion of at least a portion of the impurity into a secondary impurity having a greater affinity to the sorbent than the impurity. The method also includes comparing the concentration of the impurity to a polluting concentration and managing the sorption of the gas onto the sorbent according to the comparison.