U.S. patent application number 15/208959 was filed with the patent office on 2017-01-26 for method and device for generating a gas product.
The applicant listed for this patent is Florian Albert, Alexander Brandl, Bernd Klein. Invention is credited to Florian Albert, Alexander Brandl, Bernd Klein.
Application Number | 20170023295 15/208959 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 56787185 |
Filed Date | 2017-01-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170023295 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Brandl; Alexander ; et
al. |
January 26, 2017 |
METHOD AND DEVICE FOR GENERATING A GAS PRODUCT
Abstract
The invention relates to a method and also a device for
producing a gas product, wherein a first gas stream is combined
with a second gas stream and the first gas stream that is present
at a lower output pressure than the second gas stream is fed to a
mechanical compressor in order to be compressed to the preset
pressure of the gas product. It is characteristic in this case that
the pressure of the first gas stream is elevated using a gas jet
compressor arranged upstream of the mechanical compressor, to which
gas jet compressor at least a part of the second gas stream is fed
as pumping medium.
Inventors: |
Brandl; Alexander; (Munich,
DE) ; Albert; Florian; (Rosenheim, DE) ;
Klein; Bernd; (Munich, DE) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Brandl; Alexander
Albert; Florian
Klein; Bernd |
Munich
Rosenheim
Munich |
|
DE
DE
DE |
|
|
Family ID: |
56787185 |
Appl. No.: |
15/208959 |
Filed: |
July 13, 2016 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
C01B 3/506 20130101;
F25J 3/0261 20130101; F25J 2210/18 20130101; F25J 2215/14 20130101;
F25J 3/0223 20130101; F25J 2205/40 20130101; F25J 3/0252 20130101;
F25J 2240/60 20130101; F04F 5/46 20130101; F25J 2245/02 20130101;
C01B 2203/047 20130101; C01B 2203/146 20130101; F04F 5/18 20130101;
F25J 2205/64 20130101; F25J 2230/32 20130101; F25J 3/0295 20130101;
F25J 2205/60 20130101; C01B 3/56 20130101; F25J 2215/02
20130101 |
International
Class: |
F25J 3/02 20060101
F25J003/02; F04F 5/46 20060101 F04F005/46; F04F 5/18 20060101
F04F005/18 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jul 23, 2015 |
DE |
102015009562.5 |
Claims
1. A method for producing a gas product, wherein a first gas stream
is combined with a second gas stream and the first gas stream that
is present at a lower output pressure than the second gas stream is
fed to a mechanical compressor in order to be compressed to the
preset pressure of the gas product, characterized in that the
pressure of the first gas stream is elevated using a gas jet
compressor arranged upstream of the mechanical compressor, to which
gas jet compressor at least a part of the second gas stream is fed
as pumping medium.
2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the part
of the second gas stream that is used as pumping medium is fed
directly to the gas jet compressor with substantially the output
pressure of the second gas stream or subsequently to a pressure
elevation carried out using the mechanical compressor.
3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the
pressure of the first gas stream is elevated using the gas jet
compressor on the output pressure thereof to a value which is
greater than or equal to the suction pressure of the mechanical
compressor.
4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the
method is used in the production of a carbon monoxide product in
which a synthesis gas predominantly consisting of hydrogen and
carbon monoxide is fractionated in a cryogenic separation process,
wherein a carbon monoxide-containing crude hydrogen stream and also
at least one carbon monoxide stream which forms the second gas
stream are obtained, and wherein the crude hydrogen stream are
separated by pressure-swing adsorption into pure hydrogen and also
a carbon monoxide-rich purge gas that is the first gas stream.
5. A device for producing a gas product having an appliance
comprising a mechanical compressor for combining a first gas stream
and a second gas stream, wherein the first gas stream that is
present at a lower output pressure than the second gas stream can
be compressed in the mechanical compressor to the preset pressure
of the gas product, characterized in that said device has a gas jet
compressor arranged upstream of the mechanical compressor for
elevating the pressure of the first gas stream, to which at least a
part of the second gas stream is feedable as pumping medium.
6. The device according to claim 5, comprising two or more
parallel- and/or series-arranged gas jet compressors for elevating
the pressure of the first gas stream.
7. The device according to claim 5, comprising a gas fractionator
having a cryogenic part in which at least one of the two gas
streams having different pressures can be generated.
8. The device according to claim 7, comprising a gas fractionator
having a cryogenic part and also a pressure-swing adsorber, wherein
a synthesis gas substantially consisting of hydrogen and carbon
monoxide is fractionatable in the cryogenic part into at least one
carbon monoxide stream having product purity, which forms the
second gas stream, and a carbon monoxide-containing crude hydrogen
stream, from which pure hydrogen and a carbon monoxide-rich purge
gas, which is the first gas stream, can be generated in the
pressure-swing adsorber.
9. The device according to claim 7, characterized in that the
cryogenic part of the gas fractionator can be cooled via a cooling
circuit that is driven via the mechanical compressor.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority from German Patent
Application DE 10 2015 009562.5 filed on Jul. 23, 2015.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The invention relates to a method for producing a gas
product, wherein a first gas stream is combined with a second gas
stream, and the first gas stream that is present at a lower output
pressure than the second gas stream is fed to a mechanical
compressor in order to be compressed to the preset pressure of the
gas product.
[0003] In addition, the invention relates to a device for carrying
out the method according to the invention.
[0004] Methods and devices of the type described at the outset are
used, for instance in the production of a carbon monoxide product
from a synthesis gas predominantly consisting of hydrogen and
carbon monoxide, wherein the synthesis gas is fractionated in a
cryogenic method, which is, for example, a condensation process,
into carbon monoxide-containing crude hydrogen and at least one
carbon monoxide stream which, although it has the purity required
for the carbon monoxide product, the pressure thereof is lower than
the demanded product pressure. The pressure of said carbon monoxide
stream is therefore elevated to the required value using a
mechanical compressor, which in some cases is constructed with a
plurality of sections.
[0005] Alternatively, the mechanical compressor also serves for
driving a refrigeration circuit which covers in whole or in part
the refrigeration requirement of the cryogenic method. For this
purpose, a part of the compressed carbon monoxide is recirculated,
cooled against process streams that are to be warmed, and
cold-producingly expanded or--after a proceeding
condensation--vaporized. The expanded and re-warmed carbon monoxide
is then again passed to the mechanical compressor.
[0006] The carbon monoxide-containing crude hydrogen is separated
by adsorption into a hydrogen product and a carbon monoxide-rich
purge gas which, on account of the purity thereof can be used for
forming the carbon monoxide product, but the pressure of which is
in the vicinity of atmospheric pressure, and therefore is
substantially lower than the pressures of the other carbon monoxide
streams of the method.
[0007] As mechanical compressors, according to the prior art,
machines such as screw compressors, piston compressors or turbo
compressors are used that have a complex structure and, because the
large number of moving parts thereof, are additionally susceptible
to wear and breakdown. For these machines, therefore high capital
and operating costs result which have a considerable effect on the
economic efficiency of carbon monoxide production which increases
with decreasing pressure level of the carbon monoxide that is to be
compressed.
[0008] This is of importance, in particular, when, to increase the
yield of the method, the purge gas arising in the treatment of the
carbon monoxide-containing crude hydrogen is likewise to be
converted into the carbon monoxide product. In this case, it can be
necessary to equip the mechanical compressor with an additional
low-pressure section, the operation of which is accompanied by the
increased risk of vacuum formation and thereby the introduction of
oxygen from the surroundings, which contaminates the carbon
monoxide product.
[0009] The object of the present invention is therefore to specify
a method and also a device of the type in question by which it is
possible to overcome the described disadvantages of the prior
art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0010] On the method side, the object in question is achieved
according to the invention in that the pressure of the first gas
stream is elevated upstream of the mechanical compressor using a
gas jet compressor to which at least a part of the second gas
stream is fed as pumping medium.
[0011] The method according to the invention permits a mechanical
compressor to be used to compress the first gas stream, the minimum
suction pressure of which compressor is markedly above the output
pressure of the first gas stream. Depending on pressure and amount
of the part of the second gas stream used as pumping medium it is
possible to dispense with one or even a plurality of low-pressure
sections of the mechanical compressor, as a result of which the
capital costs arising for the gas jet compressor are more than
compensated for.
[0012] Gas jet compressors have been prior art for many years and
are known to those skilled in the art. They have a relatively
simple structure without moving parts and are robust in such a
manner that they can be used at markedly lower costs than
mechanical compressors or compressor sections.
[0013] In the motive nozzle of the gas jet compressor, a part of
the pressure energy of the part of the second gas stream used as
pumping medium is converted into kinetic energy in such a manner
that a gas stream is formed, the static pressure of which is less
than the output pressure of the first gas stream. By the pumping
medium exiting from the motive nozzle, therefore the first gas
stream can be taken in and accelerated. In the inlet cone of the
diffuser following the motive nozzle, the two gas streams mix,
before they are braked again in the diffuser. Since pressure energy
is recovered by the braking, the first gas stream leaves the gas
jet compressor together with the part of the second gas stream used
as pumping medium and at a pressure higher than its output
pressure.
[0014] Preferably, the part of the second gas stream that is used
as pumping medium is fed to the gas jet compressor at a pressure
which substantially corresponds to the output pressure of the
second gas stream. Alternatively, the pressure at least of the part
of the second gas stream used as pumping medium is elevated using
the mechanical compressor to a value above the output pressure
thereof, before it is used in the gas jet compressor.
[0015] The pressure of the first gas stream is expediently elevated
using the gas jet compressor from its output value to a value which
is equal to or greater than the suction pressure of the mechanical
compressor in such a manner that the first gas stream can be fed to
the mechanical compressor without further compression.
[0016] The method according to the invention can be used in a
multiplicity of compressing tasks. Preferably, however, it is used
to compress carbon monoxide streams arising at differing pressure
levels in the fractionation of a synthesis gas predominantly
consisting of hydrogen and carbon monoxide to form a carbon
monoxide product. Particularly advantageously, it can be used if a
carbon monoxide stream having product purity and also a carbon
monoxide-containing crude hydrogen stream are obtained from the
synthesis gas in a cryogenic separation process, which crude
hydrogen stream is subsequently separated by adsorption, wherein a
carbon monoxide-containing purge gas is produced which, on account
of the purity thereof, can be used to form the carbon monoxide
product, the pressure of which, however, is lower than the pressure
of the second carbon monoxide stream obtained directly in the
cryogenic separation process. At least a part of this second carbon
monoxide stream is then fed to a gas jet compressor as pumping
medium, with which the pressure of the purge gas is elevated, in
order subsequently to compress it to the pressure of the carbon
monoxide product using a mechanical compressor.
[0017] Furthermore, the invention relates to a device for producing
a gas product having an appliance comprising a mechanical
compressor for combining a first and a second gas stream, wherein
the first gas stream that is present at a lower output pressure
than the second gas stream can be compressed in the mechanical
compressor to the preset pressure of the gas product.
[0018] The object in question is achieved according to the
invention in terms of the device in that said device has a gas jet
compressor arranged upstream of the mechanical compressor for
elevating the pressure of the first gas stream, to which at least a
part of the second gas stream is feedable as pumping medium.
[0019] Preferably, the device according to the invention has
exactly one gas jet compressor. However, this is not to exclude the
case that it comprises two or more parallel- and/or serial-arranged
gas jet compressors for elevating the pressure of the first gas
stream, to which in each case at least a part of the second and/or
a third gas stream can be fed as pumping medium.
[0020] A configuration of the device according to the invention has
a gas fractionator in which a gas mixture can be fractionated in
order to obtain the first gas stream and the second gas stream.
Preferably, the gas fractionator comprises a cryogenic part and
also a pressure-swing adsorber, wherein a synthesis gas
substantially consisting of hydrogen and carbon monoxide is
fractionatable in the cryogenic part into at least one carbon
monoxide stream having product purity, which forms the second gas
stream, and a carbon monoxide-containing crude hydrogen, from which
pure hydrogen and a carbon monoxide-rich purge gas, which is the
first gas stream, can be generated in the pressure-swing
adsorber.
[0021] If the gas fractionator comprises a cryogenic part, the
mechanical compressor can be used to drive a cooling circuit which
provides refrigeration for the cryogenic part and in which a
mixture of matter meeting the purity requirements made of the gas
product circulates as coolant.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0022] Hereinafter, the invention is to be described in more detail
with reference to an exemplary embodiment shown schematically in
the FIGURE.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0023] The FIGURE shows an appliance for the cryogenic
fractionation of a synthesis gas principally consisting of hydrogen
and carbon monoxide, wherein carbon monoxide streams arising at
differing pressure levels are combined to form a carbon monoxide
product.
[0024] Via line 1, a synthesis gas substantially consisting of
hydrogen and carbon monoxide is introduced into the cryogenic part
K of the gas fractionator G, where it is fractionated into crude
hydrogen 2, and also the carbon monoxide streams 3, 4 and 5. The
carbon monoxide streams 3, 4 and 5 all have a purity which would
permit them to be delivered as carbon monoxide product, but they
are at pressures which are lower than the required product
pressure. They are therefore passed in the appliance W to the
compressor V having the compressor sections S1, S2 and S3, in order
to be combined and compressed to form the carbon monoxide product
6. The design of the compressor V is decisively determined by the
carbon monoxide stream 3, the pressure level of which is
lowest.
[0025] To separate off carbon monoxide and generate a hydrogen
product 7 that has a purity of greater than 99.9% by volume, the
crude hydrogen 2 is fed to the pressure-swing adsorption appliance
D which is part of the gas fractionator G, in the regeneration of
which pressure-swing adsorption appliance a carbon monoxide-rich
purge gas 8 arises at a pressure which is only slightly greater
than the ambient pressure and is markedly lower than the pressure
of the carbon monoxide stream 3. In order to increase the carbon
monoxide yield, the purge gas 8 is compressed in the gas jet
compressor P to a pressure which is equal to or greater than the
pressure of the carbon monoxide stream 3, wherein a part 9 of the
carbon monoxide stream 4 serves as pumping medium in the gas jet
compressor P. The carbon monoxide stream 10 obtained in the gas jet
compressor P is then combined with the carbon monoxide stream 3 and
fed via the low-pressure section S1 to the compressor V.
* * * * *