- Compressors
- Air separation
- Air Separation Plants
- Cryogenic Air Separation Plants
- Types of cryogenic air separation units (ASUs)
- Low pressure air separation plant for gaseous nitrogen production
- Multiproduct low pressure air separation plant
- Air separation plant for low purity oxygen
- Two-pressure air separation plant with integrated extraction of air separation products
- Air separation plant to produce liquid oxygen and nitrogen
- Air separation plant to produce liquid oxygen, nitrogen and argon
- Pressure swing adsorption
- Membrane Separation Systems
- Cryogenic Air Separation Plants
- Cryogenic tanks
- Applications
- Air Separation Plants
- Gas processing
- Coal Bed Methane
- Gasification
- Power Generation
ApplicationsIndustrial gases and production of rare gases An air separation plant is designed to produce industrial gases: oxygen, nitrogen, argon, as well as the various rare gases such as krypton, xenon, neon and helium.
Oxygen Oxygen was the first of the air separation products to be used commercially. It was the industrial demand for oxygen which prompted the development of air separation technologies. All subsequent applications can be divided into two categories: oxygen which is used to intensify combustion in the steel industry, and oxygen which is used as an oxidizer in chemical processes. Argon Argon is used as a component of shield gases due to its inert characteristics. It is used in the fabrication of machinery equipment and in construction. For example, argon is used in arc welding and thermal metal cutting in a shielding gas atmosphere. Traditionally, ar¬gon has been used in the electronics industry and for instrument making (filling glow lamps and gas-discharge lamps, assembling criti¬cal instrumentation units). A considerable amount of argon is used in steelmaking and the hot working of metals and alloys. Nitrogen Nitrogen is used as an individual component in chemical reactions (to produce ammonia, fertilizers, etc.), in downstream processes (nitriding of metal surfaces), and as an auxiliary component in the primary process. In the latter case, nitrogen acts not as a raw material but as a kind of "tool". Nitrogen is most often used as an inert medium, e.g. in the making of special steels and alloys, in oil refinery, glass industry, etc. In some cases liquid nitrogen is used rather than gas nitrogen, an example being deburring during metalworking. In this instance, liquid nitrogen serves as a cold source for metalworking (the temperature of liquid ni¬trogen is approx. -196 degrees C). Also, due to its inert property, nitrogen is used as a cooling agent in chemical reactions. |
