A liquefier device which may be a retrofit to an air separation plant or utilized as part of a new design. The flow needed for the liquefier comes from an air separation plant running in a maxim oxygen state, in a stable mode. The three gas flows are low pressure oxygen, low pressure nitrogen, and higher pressure nitrogen. All of the flows are found on the side of the main heat exchanger with a temperature of about 37 degrees Fahrenheit. All of the gasses put into the liquefier come out as a subcooled liquid, for storage or return to the air separation plant. This new liquefier does not include a front end electrical compressor, and will take a self produced liquid nitrogen, pump it up to a runnable 420 psig pressure, and with the use of turbines, condensers, flash pots, and multi pass heat exchangers. The liquefier will make liquid from a planned amount of any pure gas oxygen or nitrogen an air separation plant can produce.

A liquefier device which may be a retrofit to an air separation plant or utilized as part of a new design. The flow needed for the liquefier comes from an air separation plant running in a maxim oxygen state, in a stable mode. The three gas flows are low pressure oxygen, low pressure nitrogen, and higher pressure nitrogen. All of the flows are found on the side of the main heat exchanger with a temperature of about 37 degrees Fahrenheit. All of the gasses put into the liquefier come out as a subcooled liquid, for storage or return to the air separation plant. This new liquefier does not include a front end electrical compressor, and will take a self produced liquid nitrogen, pump it up to a runnable 420 psig pressure, and with the use of turbines, condensers, flash pots, and multi pass heat exchangers. The liquefier will make liquid from a planned amount of any pure gas oxygen or nitrogen an air separation plant can produce.

A liquefier device which may be a retrofit to an air separation plant or utilized as part of a new design. The flow needed for the liquefier comes from an air separation plant running in a maxim oxygen state, in a stable mode. The three gas flows are low pressure oxygen, low pressure nitrogen, and higher pressure nitrogen. All of the flows are found on the side of the main heat exchanger with a temperature of about 37 degrees Fahrenheit. All of the gasses put into the liquefier come out as a subcooled liquid, for storage or return to the air separation plant. This new liquefier does not include a front end electrical compressor, and will take a self produced liquid nitrogen, pump it up to a runnable 420 psig pressure, and with the use of turbines, condensers, flash pots, and multi pass heat exchangers. The liquefier will make liquid from a planned amount of any pure gas oxygen or nitrogen an air separation plant can produce.

A method and apparatus for argon recovery in which an impure argon stream is separated from air within a cryogenic air separation unit having an argon rejection column and a reflux type argon condenser disposed internally within the lower pressure column. An impure argon stream is subsequently recovered from the argon rejection column and purified within an integrated adsorbent based argon refining and purification subsystem to produce product grade argon. The waste stream from the adsorbent based argon refining and purification subsystem is recycled back to the argon rejection column so as to improve the argon recovery.

A liquefier device which may be a retrofit to an air separation plant or utilized as part of a new design. The flow needed for the liquefier comes from an air separation plant running in a maxim oxygen state, in a stable mode. The three gas flows are low pressure oxygen, low pressure nitrogen, and higher pressure nitrogen. All of the flows are found on the side of the main heat exchanger with a temperature of about 37 degrees Fahrenheit. All of the gasses put into the liquefier come out as a subcooled liquid, for storage or return to the air separation plant. This new liquefier does not include a front end electrical compressor, and will take a self produced liquid nitrogen, pump it up to a runnable 420 psig pressure, and with the use of turbines, condensers, flash pots, and multi pass heat exchangers. The liquefier will make liquid from a planned amount of any pure gas oxygen or nitrogen an air separation plant can produce.

A method and apparatus for argon recovery in which an impure argon stream is separated from air within a cryogenic air separation unit having an argon rejection column and a reflux type argon condenser disposed internally within the lower pressure column. An impure argon stream is subsequently recovered from the argon rejection column and purified within an integrated adsorbent based argon refining and purification subsystem to produce product grade argon. The waste stream from the adsorbent based argon refining and purification subsystem is recycled back to the argon rejection column so as to improve the argon recovery.

A method and apparatus for argon rejection and recovery in which argon is separated from air within a cryogenic air separation plant having a divided wall argon rejection column arrangement and condensed using an argon condenser disposed internally within the lower pressure column. The divided wall argon rejection column arrangement may be an annular arrangement or a side-by-side arrangement (i.e. segmented or planar configuration). The resulting argon stream is subsequently rejected or recovered and optionally purified within an integrated adsorbent based argon refining and purification subsystem to produce product grade argon.

A method and apparatus for argon recovery in which an impure argon stream is separated from air within a cryogenic air separation unit having an argon rejection column and a reflux type argon condenser disposed internally within the lower pressure column. An impure argon stream is subsequently recovered from the argon rejection column and purified within an integrated adsorbent based argon refining and purification subsystem to produce product grade argon. The waste stream from the adsorbent based argon refining and purification subsystem is recycled back to the argon rejection column so as to improve the argon recovery.

A method and apparatus for increasing argon recovery in which an impure argon stream is separated from air within a cryogenic air separation unit and purified within an integrated, multi-stage pressure swing adsorption system to produce product grade argon with high argon recovery levels.

A method and apparatus for argon recovery in which an impure argon stream is separated from air within a cryogenic air separation unit having a divided wall argon rejection/rectification column. The resulting argon stream is subsequently recovered and purified within an integrated pressure swing adsorption system to produce product grade argon.