| PRAXAIR TECHNOLOGY, INC. Patent applications |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
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| 20120036892 | AIR SEPARATION METHOD AND APPARATUS - An air separation method and apparatus in which a supercritical oxygen product is produced by heating a pumped liquid oxygen stream having a supercritical pressure, through indirect heat exchange with a boosted pressure air stream. The indirect heat exchange is conducted within a heat exchanger and a liquid nitrogen stream is vaporized in the heat exchanger to depress the pressure that would otherwise be required of the boosted pressure air stream to heat the pumped liquid oxygen stream. The pumped liquid oxygen stream constitutes 90 percent of the oxygen-rich liquid removed from an air separation unit in which the air is rectified, the liquid nitrogen constitutes at least 90 percent of the liquid nitrogen that is not used as reflux and a flow-rate ratio between the liquid nitrogen stream and the oxygen-rich liquid is between about 0.3 and 0.90. | 02-16-2012 |
| 20120030962 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SOLVENT RECOVERY IN A BATCH FLUIDIZED BED PROCESS - A system and method for solvent recovery in a batch fluidized bed process is provided. The disclosed embodiment of the fluidized bed system includes a fluidized bed vessel adapted to contain a batch of solvent-containing product; an influent or intake circuit adapted to supply an inert fluidizing gas to the fluidized bed vessel; an effluent circuit adapted to remove the solvent containing inert fluidizing gas from the fluidized bed vessel; a first recycle circuit coupling the effluent circuit to a solvent recovery means; a second recycle circuit directly coupling the effluent circuit to the intake circuit and a flow control valve operatively disposed to divide the effluent between the first recycle circuit and the second recycle circuit based on the operating regime of the fluidized bed process. The disclosed embodiments further include a source of liquid nitrogen coupled to the second recycle circuit to provide the make-up inert gas as well as provide enhanced cooling of the effluent based on the operating regime of the fluidized bed process. | 02-09-2012 |
| 20100107685 | REFINERY GAS UPGRADING VIA PARTIAL CONDENSATION AND PSA - A process and system for recovering valuable by-products (e.g., hydrogen) from refinery gas streams. For hydrogen-only recovery, the invention comprises a partial condensation step to upgrade the refinery fuel gas to a minimum of 60% hydrogen, which is further purified in a pressure swing adsorption process. When configured to recover hydrogen, methane-rich gas and raw LPG (methane depleted gas containing C2 hydrocarbons and heavier), the invention comprises two partial condensation steps where the feed is cooled in the first step to allow separation of ethane and heavier hydrocarbons, and the resulting vapor is cooled to a lower temperature in a second step for hydrogen recovery. | 05-06-2010 |
| 20100044930 | INJECTION METHOD FOR INERT GAS - A method and apparatus for forming internally shrouded supersonic coherent jets comprising an inert gas, such as pure argon and argon/oxygen mixtures. This method and apparatus can be employed to produce low-carbon steels with a top lance in basic oxygen steelmaking. | 02-25-2010 |
| 20100000305 | METHOD AND KIT FOR ADSORBENT PERFORMANCE EVALUATION - The present invention generally relates to methods and kits for measuring and analyzing degradation of adsorbent materials, particularly for adsorbent materials used in gas separation processes. The present invention can assess the damage to adsorbent due to moisture contamination and it can assess damage that is not moisture-related. The advantage to the present invention is that it can detect degradation of adsorbent before the degradation affects production. Another advantage is that it can conclusively determine whether the sieve is damaged. Because it is so inexpensive to run, the test of the present invention can be conducted to determine adsorbent damage and to confirm whether the damage continues to be an issue. The present invention can test adsorbents in any form, including, but not limited to, bead, pellet or powder form. | 01-07-2010 |
| 20090320679 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR HELIUM RECOVERY - The present invention relates generally to processes and systems for recovering helium from low helium-containing feed gases (i.e., containing less than about 10 volume % helium and more typically, less than about 5 % helium by volume). The present invention more particularly relates to processes and systems for recovering helium from low helium-containing feed gases using temperature swing adsorption (TSA) systems and multiple (e.g. two) stage vacuum pressure swing adsorption (VPSA) systems. In preferred embodiments of the invention, the first stage VPSA system is configured to provide regeneration gas for the TSA system, and/or the VPSA second stage tail gas is recycled to the first stage VPSA system. | 12-31-2009 |
| 20090246118 | HYDROGEN PRODUCTION METHOD AND FACILITY - A hydrogen production method and facility in which a synthesis gas stream produced by the gasification of a carbonaceous substance is processed within a synthesis gas processing unit in which the carbon monoxide content is reacted with steam to produce additional hydrogen that is removed by a pressure swing adsorption unit. The tail gas from the pressure swing adsorption unit is further reformed with the addition of a hydrocarbon containing stream in a steam methane reforming system, further shifted to produce further additional hydrogen. The further hydrogen is then separated in another pressure swing adsorption unit. | 10-01-2009 |
| 20090241771 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR GAS SEPARATION USING HIGH-SPEED PERMANENT MAGNET MOTORS WITH CENTRIFUGAL COMPRESSORS - Systems and processes are provided for gas separation using high-speed permanent magnet variable-speed motors to accelerate and decelerate centrifugal compressors suitable for use in pressure swing adsorption (PSA) or vacuum pressure swing adsorption (VPSA) processes. | 10-01-2009 |
| 20090241595 | DISTILLATION METHOD AND APPARATUS - A distillation method and apparatus having application to the distillation of air in which liquid production make is varied by varying the pressure ratio across a turboexpander used in generating refrigeration. The pressure ratio is varied by varying the pressure of a compressed stream fed to the turboexpander. This is done by solely compressing such compressed stream by a first booster compressor during a low rate of production of liquid products. During a high rate of production of liquid products, the compressed stream is also compressed within a second booster compressor. The second booster compressor is driven by a variable speed drive to allow a variety of liquid production rates between the low level of liquid production and the high level of liquid production. | 10-01-2009 |
| 20090013600 | DUAL MODE REACTOR SMR INTEGRATION - The present invention relates to systems and processes for producing syngas in steam methane reformer (SMR)-based plants, particularly to the use of a high space velocity, dual mode catalytic reactor to pre-reform plant feedstock. The dual mode reactor has the capability to operate in two modes: either without oxygen addition in a reforming mode or with oxygen addition in a partial oxidation-reforming mode. The dual mode reactor allows the syngas production rate of the plant to be manipulated without the added capital expense of a reheat coil and with reduced impact on export steam production. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20080282891 | PRESSURE SWING ADSORPTION PROCESS FOR LARGE CAPACITY OXYGEN PRODUCTION - The present invention generally relates to large capacity (e.g., greater than 350 tons/day O | 11-20-2008 |
