Piping module for air fractionation plant

Abstract

A piping module is described which comprises at least two fluid connections or ports for connection to at least one main heat exchanger of an air fractionation plant, whereby the main heat exchanger becomes linked to at least two fluid lines in a warm part of the air fractionation plant. The piping module comprises at least two ports on the main compressor side, couplable to at least two fluid lines in the warm part of the air fractionation plant, and at least two ports on the main heat exchanger side, couplable to at least two fluid ports of the at least one main heat exchanger, and at least two fluid lines connecting the ports on the main compressor side to the ports on the main heat exchanger side. A corresponding air fractionation plant and a method for erecting such an air fractionation plant (100) are likewise described.

Claims

1. A prefabricated piping module (10) constructed for use in an air fractionation plant (100) having a warm part containing at least one main compressor and a cold part containing at least one main heat exchanger, said piping module being capable of linking at least two fluid ports (10a′, 10b′) of the at least one main heat exchanger (1a, 1b) to at least two fluid lines in a warm part of the air fractionation plant (100), said piping module (10) comprising: a prefabricated piping module having a main compressor side and a main heat exchanger side, at least two ports on the main compressor side of the piping module, which are couplable with the at least two fluid lines in the warm part of the air fractionation plant (100), at least two ports (10a, 10b) on the main heat exchanger side of the piping module, which are couplable with the at least two fluid ports (10a′, 10b′) of the at least one main heat exchanger (1a, 1b) in the cold part of the air fractionation plant (100), and at least two fluid lines connecting said at least two ports on the main compressor side to said at least two ports (10a, 10b) on the main heat exchanger side, wherein said piping module is in the form of a pipping skid, wherein said piping module optionally comprises shut-off means for shutting off individual fluid lines and/or adjusting means for adjusting a fluid stream, and wherein said piping module does not comprise compressors, expansion machines, heating devices, coolers, or heat exchangers.

2. The piping module (10) according to claim 1, wherein said piping module is constructed to be arranged beside the at least one main heat exchanger (1a, 1b) of the air fractionation plant (100), and said piping module having an upper region wherein the ports (10a, 10b) on the main heat exchanger side are arranged on said upper region of the piping module (10).

3. The piping module (10) according to claim 1, which is arranged for linking at least two fluid ports (10a′, 10b′) of the at least one main heat exchanger (1a, 1b) to a common fluid line in the warm part of the air fractionation plant (100).

4. The piping module (10) according to claim 3, which comprises at least one fluid manifold (12), which is arranged for linking at least two fluid ports (10a′, 10b′) of the at least one main heat exchanger (1a, 1b) to said common fluid line in the warm part of the air fractionation plant (100) and, in each case, couples at least two ports (10a, 10b) on the main heat exchanger side of said piping module with a port on the main compressor side of said piping module.

5. The piping module (10) according to claim 4, in which the at least one fluid manifold is constructed as a fluid manifold module (12) which is linkable to a base module (11) which comprises the at least two ports on the main compressor side of said piping module.

6. The piping module (10) according to claim 1, wherein said piping module is capable of linking a plurality main heat exchangers in the air fractionation plant, each of the main heat exchangers having a plurality of fluid ports (10a′, 10b′), said piping module a plurality of sets of ports on the main heat exchanger side of said piping module, and each one of the plurality of sets of ports having a plurality of ports (10a, 10b) corresponding to the a plurality of fluid ports (10a′, 10b′) on each of the main heat exchangers, whereby said piping module can be linked to the plurality of m main heat exchangers (1a, 1b).

7. The piping module (10) according to claim 1, wherein the fluid lines, connecting the at least two ports on the main compressor side of said piping module and the at least two ports (10a, 10b) on the main heat exchanger side of said piping module, comprise at least one feed line for passage of compressed, prepurified and/or precooled air and at least one discharge line for passage of cooled nitrogen (GAN).

8. The piping module (10) according to claim 1, wherein said piping module further comprises at least one fire-protected oxygen transfer valve.

9. An air fractionation plant (100) comprising: at least one piping module (10) according to claim 1, at least one main heat exchanger (1a, 1b) connected to said at least one piping module (10), and a warm part of said fractionation plant comprising a main compressor which is also connected to said at least one piping module (10), whereby at least two fluid ports (10a′, 10b′) of said at least one main heat exchanger (1a, 1b) are in fluid communication with at least two fluid lines in the warm part of said fractionation plant by means of said piping module (10).

10. A method for erecting an air fractionation plant (100) according to claim 9, comprising: providing at least one main heat exchanger (1a, 1b) and at least one piping module (10), fluidly connecting said at least one main heat exchanger (1a, 1b) with said at least one piping module (10), whereby at least two fluid ports (10a′, 10b′) of said at least one main heat exchanger (1a, 1b) are placed in fluid communication with at least two fluid lines in the warm part of said fractionation plant by means of said piping module (10).

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein in said fluidly connecting of said at least one main heat exchanger (1a, 1b) with said at least one piping module (10), said at least two ports (10a, 10b) on the main heat exchanger side of said piping module are coupled with said at least two fluid ports (10a′, 10b′) of said at least one main heat exchanger (1a, 1b) by connection pipes with correspondingly standardized flanges.

12. The prefabricated piping module of claim 1, wherein the main heat exchanger is formed from at least two parallel blocks.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The invention is illustrated schematically by an exemplary embodiment in the attached drawings and is described in detail below with reference to the drawings, wherein:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a greatly simplified, schematic diagram of an air fractionation plant according to the prior art; and

(3) FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a piping module with two main heat exchangers according to one embodiment of the invention.

(4) In the figures, identical or equivalently acting elements optionally bear identical reference signs and, for clarity's sake, are not repeatedly explained.

(5) FIG. 1 shows a greatly simplified, schematic diagram of an air fractionation plant according to the prior art. This is designated overall as 100. The present invention relates in particular to linking a main heat exchanger in such an air fractionation plant 100 to the “warm” part of the fraction plant which includes the main compressor. The main heat exchanger is provided in the form of a main heat exchanger module 1.

(6) An air stream represented as a dashed line and which has previously been compressed in a compressor 2 and purified in an adsorber 3, is supplied to the main heat exchanger in the main heat exchanger module 1, which may comprise one or more main heat exchanger blocks in a corresponding cold box. Additional devices such as filters and the like are not shown. Although FIG. 1 shows only one adsorber 3, an air fractionation plant 100 conventionally comprises a plurality of adsorbers 3, which are operated alternately and appropriately regenerated.

(7) In the main heat exchanger, the compressed and purified air which has been supplied is countercurrently cooled in the main heat exchanger module 1 with cold, gaseous nitrogen (GAN) from the top of a separation column 5 which is explained below.

(8) The air stream, which is cooled close to liquefaction temperature in main heat exchanger module 1, is then expanded in an expansion valve 4 and fed in partially liquid form into a central zone of the separation column 5. A corresponding plant may additionally include post-compression of a (sub-) stream of air and cooling in a high-pressure heat exchanger. This is also not shown for clarity's sake. As has already been explained, instead of a single separation column 5, as shown in FIG. 1, it is also possible to use a plurality of series-connected separation columns, double columns and the like, as the separation column system.

(9) The liquefied air is fractionated by using the different boiling points of its constituents. In the separation column 5, the liquid air is, to this end, trickled down via a number of sieve trays (shown in greatly simplified form) countercurrently to non-liquefied, ascending air. The liquid here accumulates on the trays where ascending vapor bubbles pass through the accumulated liquid. As a result, primarily the higher boiling oxygen liquefies out of the gas stream, while the lower boiling nitrogen preferentially vaporizes out of the liquid droplets. For this reason, gaseous nitrogen (GAN) collects at the cold top of the separation column 5 and liquid oxygen (LOX) collects at the warmer bottom.

(10) The fractions are further purified by vaporizing the liquid oxygen LOX from the bottom of the separation column 5 in a vaporizer (reboiler) 6 and the gaseous nitrogen is liquefied in an “overhead” condenser 7. The vaporized, gaseous oxygen (GOX) and the liquefied nitrogen (LIN) are supplied again to the separation column 5, where the rectification is repeated until the desired purity is achieved.

(11) Correspondingly pure fluids may be drawn off from the bottom or top of the separation column 5 and stored for further use in liquid tanks 8, 9.

(12) An oxygen-argon mixture O/Ar may, for example, furthermore be drawn off from the separation column 5, from which mixture high purity argon may be obtained in a separate method. Separate columns can also be used for obtaining the noble gases xenon, krypton, helium and/or neon as products.

(13) Newly drawn in air (see above) is cooled by drawing off a proportion of the obtained nitrogen (GAN) and recycling it to the main heat exchanger in the main heat exchanger module 1.

(14) FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a piping module and two main heat exchangers 1a and 1b according to an embodiment of the invention. The piping module is designated overall as 10, while a main heat exchanger module, which contains the two main heat exchangers 1a and 1b, is designated as 1. Although FIG. 2 shows only two main heat exchangers 1a and 1b, the invention may also be carried out with more than two or only one main heat exchanger(s). The main heat exchanger module 1 may for example be constructed in the form of a cold box, as explained above.

(15) The piping module 10 may be made up of a base module 11 and a fluid manifold module 12 which are connected to one another via a suitable connection 13. Central components such as corresponding valves 14 may be arranged in the base module 11. FIG. 2 here shows only one line in the base module 11, which divides into two lines in the fluid manifold module 12. As explained, a main heat exchanger module 1 or the main heat exchangers 1a or 1b arranged therein may, however, in practice be passed through by a plurality of different fluid streams countercurrently to one another, such that a plurality of the stated lines are also present. As explained, one set of ports is provided in the fluid manifold module 12 for each main heat exchanger 1a or 1b to be connected. The piping module 10 may be mounted on a suitable frame and/or may be enclosed in a suitable container for transportation to the site of use, e.g. on a truck. The piping module may, as mentioned, be of a flat construction in a horizontal direction and/or may generally be optimized for fitting in an available space within an air separation plant. The piping module 10, furthermore, is adapted to the specific parameters of the fluids guided through its fluid lines. Typically, at least one of the fluids may be provided by the main compressor with a pressure of at least 6 bar, but in specific cases also more than 6 bar, e.g. at least 10 bar. In other cases, e.g. when using “internal” compression as mentioned above, also the fluids coming from the main heat exchanger may be provided with such pressures. Therefore, a corresponding fluid line is adapted to be operated under such pressure. At least one of the fluids may comprise an elevated oxygen content or may be pure oxygen. Therefore, a corresponding fluid line is adapted to be operated with such a fluid and comprise e.g. oil and grease free components.

(16) The piping module 10 may furthermore comprise (in the main module 11 and/or the fluid manifold module 12) at least one pressure, temperature and/or flow controller 15. Fire-protected oxygen valves are, for example, not shown. Such fire-protected oxygen valves are, e.g., also provided in the fluid lines in the main module 11 and/or in the fluid manifold module 12.

(17) The fluid manifold module 12 comprises, as mentioned, a set of ports 10a or 10b for the main heat exchangers 1a or 1b to be connected. These may be connected very straightforwardly with corresponding ports 10a′ or 10b′ on the main heat exchanger 1a or 1b to be connected.

(18) Without further elaboration, it is believed that one skilled in the art can, using the preceding description, utilize the present invention to its fullest extent. The preceding preferred specific embodiments are, therefore, to be construed as merely illustrative, and not limitative of the remainder of the disclosure in any way whatsoever.

(19) The preceding examples can be repeated with similar success by substituting the generically or specifically described reactants and/or operating conditions of this invention for those used in the preceding examples.

(20) From the foregoing description, one skilled in the art can easily ascertain the essential characteristics of this invention and, without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, can make various changes and modifications of the invention to adapt it to various usages and conditions.

(21) The entire disclosures of all applications, patents and publications, cited herein and of corresponding German patent application DE 10 2012 008 416.1, filed Apr. 27, 2012, are incorporated by reference herein.