In a process for supplying oxygen and/or nitrogen and also argon to a geographic zone, the geographic zone comprising n units for air separation by cryogenic distillation, of which a first unit and n-1 second units produce oxygen and/or nitrogen but do not produce argon, the oxygen and/or nitrogen for at least certain clients come from at least one of the n-1 second, non-argon-producing units, and argon for these clients comes from the first unit, where the first unit operates by means of a column system comprising a double column composed of a higher pressure column operating at a first pressure and a lower pressure column, whose bottom is connected thermally to the top of the higher pressure column, operating at a second pressure, which is lower than the first pressure, and of an argon-producing column and a mixing column, wherein the mixing column is fed at the bottom with an auxiliary gas consisting of gaseous nitrogen from the first or the lower pressure column, and at the top with a liquid which is richer in oxygen than the auxiliary gas and is taken from the lower part of the low-pressure column, and impure oxygen constituting a production gas is withdrawn at the top of the mixing column, the argon-producing column is fed with an argon-enriched gas flow from the lower pressure column, and an argon-rich product is withdrawn from the argon-producing column.

A method for improving the capacity of an existing air separation unit employing a lost air turbine is provided in which the capacity is increased by operating the existing air separation unit as previously operated, with the exception of collecting the lost air from the lost air turbine, and instead of venting said lost air to the atmosphere, the lost air is compressed in a supplemental air compressor and returned to the air separation unit at a location downstream a front-end purification unit and upstream a booster. This setup advantageously allows for increased production without having to adjust the sizing of the front-end purification unit or main air compressor.

An apparatus for the distillation of air by cryogenic distillation is provided. The apparatus can include an enclosure; a first distillation column configured to operate at a first pressure; a second distillation column configured to operate at a second pressure that is lower than the first pressure, the second distillation column being placed above the first distillation column and forming therewith a double column; a subcooling heat exchanger configured to cool at least one liquid from the first distillation column upstream of the second distillation column and configured to warm a gaseous nitrogen stream from the second distillation column; and an argon column configured to separate an argon enriched stream from the second distillation column and configured to produce an argon rich stream. In certain embodiments, the first distillation column, the second distillation column, the argon column and the subcooling heat exchanger are disposed within the enclosure, and/or the subcooling heat exchanger is disposed directly underneath the first distillation column or the argon column.

A method for improving the capacity of an existing air separation unit employing a lost air turbine is provided in which the capacity is increased by operating the existing air separation unit as previously operated, with the exception of collecting the lost air from the lost air turbine, and instead of venting said lost air to the atmosphere, the lost air is compressed in a supplemental air compressor and returned to the air separation unit at a location downstream a front-end purification unit and upstream a booster. This setup advantageously allows for increased production without having to adjust the sizing of the front-end purification unit or main air compressor.

A method for improving the capacity of an existing air separation unit employing a lost air turbine is provided in which the capacity is increased by operating the existing air separation unit as previously operated, with the exception of collecting the lost air from the lost air turbine, and instead of venting said lost air to the atmosphere, the lost air is compressed in a supplemental air compressor and returned to the air separation unit at a location downstream a front-end purification unit and upstream a booster. This setup advantageously allows for increased production without having to adjust the sizing of the front-end purification unit or main air compressor.

A method for improving the capacity of an existing air separation unit employing a lost air turbine is provided in which the capacity is increased by operating the existing air separation unit as previously operated, with the exception of collecting the lost air from the lost air turbine, and instead of venting said lost air to the atmosphere, the lost air is compressed in a supplemental air compressor and returned to the air separation unit at a location downstream a front-end purification unit and upstream a booster. This setup advantageously allows for increased production without having to adjust the sizing of the front-end purification unit or main air compressor.

An apparatus for the distillation of air by cryogenic distillation is provided. The apparatus can include an enclosure; a first distillation column configured to operate at a first pressure; a second distillation column configured to operate at a second pressure that is lower than the first pressure, the second distillation column being placed above the first distillation column and forming therewith a double column; a subcooling heat exchanger configured to cool at least one liquid from the first distillation column upstream of the second distillation column and configured to warm a gaseous nitrogen stream from the second distillation column; and an argon column configured to separate an argon enriched stream from the second distillation column and configured to produce an argon rich stream. In certain embodiments, the first distillation column, the second distillation column, the argon column and the subcooling heat exchanger are disposed within the enclosure, and/or the subcooling heat exchanger is disposed directly underneath the first distillation column or the argon column.

An apparatus for separating air by cryogenic distillation comprises N air compressors (C1, C2, C3) connected so as to receive air at ambient pressure and designed to produce air at a first pressure above 12 bar absolute, N being at least 3, each of the compressors being driven by a single asynchronous motor (M1, M2, M3), the total power of the compressors being at least 10 MW.

A computer-implemented system and method for producing and distributing at least one product from at least one plant to at least one customer where discretized plant production data, filtered customer sourcing data, forecasted customer demand data, and forecasted plant electricity pricing data are input into a modified genetic algorithm and an electronic processor solves the modified genetic algorithm and outputs the solution to an interface. The system and method is flexible and can incorporate data as it becomes available to yield intermediate solutions for quick decision making.