Sweep gases

The calculation shows how rapidly a droplet changes in diameter with time as it flows toward the plasma flame. At 40°C, a droplet loses 90% of its size within alxtut 1.5 sec, in which time the sweep gas has flowed only about 8 cm along the tube leading to the plasma flame. Typical desolvation chambers operate at 150°C and, at these temperatures, similar changes in diameter will be complete within a few milliseconds. The droplets of sample solution lose almost all of their solvent (dry out) to give only residual sample (solute) particulate matter before reaching the plasma flame. 

Depending on the type of nebulizer used and its efficiency, there may be initially a significant proportion of large droplets in the aerosol. Heavier than the very fine droplets, the larger droplets are affected by gravity and by turbulent flow in the argon sweep gas, which cause them to deposit onto the walls of the transfer tube. 

Nitrogen is used for pressure maintenance in oil and gas reservoirs for enhanced recovery. It is sometimes used as a miscible agent to reduce oil viscosity and increase recovery in deep reservoirs. Other appHcations include recovery of oil in attic formations, gas cap displacement, and a sweep gas for miscible CO2 slugs. Nitrogen competes with CO2, a more miscible gas with hydrocarbons (qv), in most of these appHcations. The production mode is typically by on-site cryogenic separation plants. In 1990, nitrogen production in enhanced recovery operations was 20 x 10 m /d (750 million SCF/d)... 

DP systems can be shut down when not in use to conserve energy. If a Hquid-nitrogen trap is incorporated, the manner in which this trap is warmed up and the DP is cooled down should be deterniined by the presence or absence of a valve between the chamber and the Hquid-nitrogen trap. In critical systems, this head valve can be included in order to permit rapid shutdown and rapid return to operation. The assertion that dry nitrogen gas can be used to sweep contamination from traps and pumps in such manner that oil contamination is prevented from mnning counter to the nitrogen-sweeping flow direction is questionable. Proper placement of valves can eliminate the need of a sweep gas. 

Water Transport. Two methods of measuring water-vapor transmission rates (WVTR) ate commonly used. The newer method uses a Permatran-W (Modem Controls, Inc.). In this method a film sample is clamped over a saturated salt solution, which generates the desired humidity. Dry air sweeps past the other side of the film and past an infrared detector, which measures the water concentration in the gas. For a caUbrated flow rate of air, the rate of water addition can be calculated from the observed concentration in the sweep gas. From the steady-state rate, the WVTR can be calculated. In principle, the diffusion coefficient could be deterrnined by the method outlined in the previous section. However, only the steady-state region of the response is serviceable. Many different salt solutions can be used to make measurements at selected humidity differences however, in practice,... 

Process development on fluidized-bed pyrolysis was also carried out by the ConsoHdation Coal Co., culminating in operation of a 32 t/d pilot plant (35). The CONSOL pyrolysis process incorporated a novel stirred carbonizer as the pyrolysis reactor, which made operation of the system feasible even using strongly agglomerating eastern U.S. biturninous coals. This allowed the process to bypass the normal pre-oxidation step that is often used with caking coals, and resulted in a nearly 50% increase in tar yield. Use of a sweep gas to rapidly remove volatiles from the pyrolysis reactor gave overall tar yields of nearly 25% for a coal that had Eischer assay tar yields of only 15%. 

As an example the use of ceramic membranes for ethane dehydrogenation has been discussed (91). The constmction of a commercial reactor, however, is difficult, and a sweep gas is requited to shift the product composition away from equiUbrium values. The achievable conversion also depends on the permeabihty of the membrane. Figure 7 shows the equiUbrium conversion and the conversion that can be obtained from a membrane reactor by selectively removing 80% of the hydrogen produced. Another way to use membranes is only for separation and not for reaction. In this method, a conventional, multiple, fixed-bed catalytic reactor is used for the dehydrogenation. After each bed, the hydrogen is partially separated using membranes to shift the equihbrium. Since separation is independent of reaction, reaction temperature can be optimized for superior performance. Both concepts have been proven in bench-scale units, but are yet to be demonstrated in commercial reactors. 

Vapors (from drying) are removed at the feed end of the dtyer to the atmosphere through a natural-draft stack and settling chamber or wet scrubber. When employed in simple drying operations with 3.5 X 10 to 10 X 10 Pa steam, draft is controlled by a damper to admit only sufficient outside air to sweep moisture from the cylinder, discharging the air at 340 to 365 K and 80 to 90 percent saturation. In this way, shell gas velocities and dusting are minimized. When used for solvent recovery or other processes requiring a sealed system, sweep gas is recirculated throu a scrubber-gas cooler and blower. 

Partial Pressure Pinch An example of the hmitations of the partial pressure pinch is the dehumidification of air by membrane. While O9 is the fast gas in air separation, in this apphcation H9O is faster still. Special dehydration membranes exhibit a = 20,000. As gas passes down the membrane, the pai-dal pressure of H9O drops rapidly in the feed. Since the H9O in the permeate is diluted only by the O9 and N9 permeating simultaneously, p oo rises rapidly in the permeate. Soon there is no driving force. The commercial solution is to take some of the diy air product and introduce it into the permeate side as a countercurrent sweep gas, to dilute the permeate and lower the H9O partial pressure. It is in effect the introduction of a leak into the membrane, but it is a controlled leak and it is introduced at the optimum position. 

A novel reactor for pyrolysis of a PE melt stirred by bubbles of flowing nitrogen gas at atmospheric pressure permits uniform temperature depolymerisation. Sweep-gas experiments at temperatures 370-410 C allowed pyrolysis products to be collected separately as reactor residue (solidified PE melt), condensed vapour, and uncondensed gas products. MWDs determined by GPC indicated that random scission and repolymerisation (crosslinking) broadened the polymer-melt MWD. 19 refs. USA... 

Transport properties have been studied before and after Si deposition using a rig similar to the one for catalytic testings (Figure 2). Pure gas permeabilities (H2, He, N2, normal and isobutane) were studied by measuring the flux passing though the membrane as a function of temperature and pressure for a constant transmembrane differential pressure (no sweep gas). 

Gas separation performances (H2/n-butane, n-hexane/2-2 dimethylbutane) have been measured using a sweep gas (countercurrent mode) in order to increase the permeation driving force (no differential pressure was used) permeate and retentate compositions (see Figure 2) were analysed using on line gas chromatography. 

Catalytic testings have been performed using the same rig and a conventional fixed-bed placed in the inner volume of the tubular membrane. The catalyst for isobutane dehydrogenation [9] was a Pt-based solid and sweep gas was used as indicated in Fig. 2. For propane oxidative dehydrogenation a V-Mg-0 mixed oxide [10] was used and the membrane separates oxygen and propane (the hydrocarbon being introduced in the inner part of the reactor). 

Figure 9. H2 ( ) / n-butane ( ) separaticm with the ccxnposite zeolite-alumina membrane (fluxes in the permeate as a function of the tenq>erature). A mixture of hydrogen, n-btitane and nitrogen (12 14 74) was fed in the tube (Fig. 2) with a flow rate of 4.8 1/h. Sweep gas (N2), countercurrent mode, flow rate 4.3 1/h.

Membrane System Design Features For the rate process of permeation to occur, there must be a driving force. For gas separations, that force is partial pressure (or fugacity). Since the ratio of the component fluxes determines the separation, the partial pressure of each component at each point is important. There are three ways of driving the process Either high partial pressure on the feed side (achieved by high total pressure), or low partial pressure on the permeate side, which may be achieved either by vacuum or by introduction of a sweep gas. Both of the permeate options have negative economic impHcations, and they are less commonly used. 

Process Description Pervaporation is a separation process in which a liquid mixture contacts a nonporous permselective membrane. One component is transported through the membrane preferentially. It evaporates on the downstream side of the membrane leaving as a vapor. The name is a contraction of permeation and evaporation. Permeation is induced by lowering partial pressure of the permeating component, usually by vacuum or occasionally with a sweep gas. The permeate is then condensed or recovered. Thus, three steps are necessary Sorption of the permeating components into the membrane, diffusive transport across the nonporous membrane, then desorption into the permeate space, with a heat effect. Pervaporation membranes are chosen for high selectivity, and the permeate is often highly purified. 

While some tests with this set-up were run with N2 as the anode sweep gas, elemental sulfur was found to occlude the exit tube. For this reason most tests were run with H2 at the anode, the product recovered as H2S ... 

H2S in the sweep gas, as shown by the open symbols. However, this fuel gas, containing 17.5% C02 and 17.5% H20, offers a strongly competitive reaction to H2S reduction, namely Eq. (35). Since the E° for this reaction is nearly equal to that for Eq. (30), it would be expected to occur to a much greater degree than (30). However, the oxidation reaction at the anode,... 

Gercel, H.F. 2002. The effect of a sweeping gas flow rate on the fast pyrolysis of biomass. Energy Sources 24 633-642. 

The Damkdhler-Peclet product also had an impact on performance the optimal value ranged from is 1.0 x 10 at 773K, to 1.0 x 10 at 873K. Little or no improvement was observed when the pressure in the tube was larger than the pressure in the shell, and no improvement was seen when the shell pressure exceeded the tube pressure. When the inert gas sweep rate was increased, the membrane reactor improved until the amount of sweep gas to reactant gas was approximately one hundred as seen in Figure 3. Once again there was an asymptotic limit to the amount of enhancement seen. There was no improvement when the permeabilities of any other component were increased over the permeability of methane. 

Figure 3. Effect of sweep gas flow rate on reactor performance at 873K.

As sweep gas flow rate is increased, the performance of the reactor improves until the flow rate is about one thousand times the reactant flow rate. The concentration of all species, but most importantly formaldehyde decreases in the shell side of the reactor as this happens. This increases the driving force for permeation of all species. After increasing this flow rate to a certain point further increases in inert gas flow rate do not change the concentration gradient of any species along the reactor because the shell concentrations of all species is... 

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