Abstract:
The cooling and purification stage is of great importance for the air process separation, since it is at this stage that the main contaminants (water, hydrocarbons and CO2) are removed. If not controlled, these contaminants can cause problems to the process like obstruction and release of energy. In this paper, a case study is presented for an air separation plant with CO2 breakthrough at the end of the pre-purifying vessel operation cycles (VPPs). The solution obtained was the installation of a chiller of refrigeration that promotes the reduction of the temperature of the water that cools the air by the exchange of heat by direct contact. As expected, the chiller provided a reduction in air temperature which resulted in better performance of VPPs, increasing process reliability and increasing operational safety by controlling contaminants.