Process description for the A8 example simulation

The following table shows the specifications for the air feed to the process. For this simulation, we ignore all other rare gases found in air. We also exclude any initial filtering and drying processes.

Table 1: Feed stream properties

The E1 heat exchanger cools the feed to its dew point before it enters a 44-stage high-pressure column, HP. The feed stream enters the column at stage 44. The HP column includes a complete condenser and no reboiler. Both the top and bottom products from the HP column enter the E2 heat exchanger, where the nitrogen product cools the streams to their desired temperatures.

The low-pressure column, LP, consists of 69 stages and includes 4 feed stages, 2 vapor draws, and a reboiler. The top product from the HP column, which is predominately nitrogen, enters at stage 1, while the bottom product from the HP column enters at stage 28. A portion of the feed bypasses the HP column and enters at stage 32. A recycle stream from the argon column, ARG, enters the LP column at stage 45. Stage 44 includes a vapor draw which enters the ARG column for further separation of oxygen and argon. At Stage 69, an additional vapor draw provides the vaporized oxygen product.

The ARG column consists of 55 stages and an external partial condenser (ARGCond) that cools the vapor from the ARG column by using the bottom product from the HP column as the cooling utility. The V1 drum that follows the ARGCond heat exchanger separates the product vapor from the reflux. The feed enters the ARG column at stage 55.