Ozone Cost Implications from Oxygen Supply - Advantages of VSA Technology

摘要

Many ozone systems have chosen to supply their oxygen either by liquid oxygen (LOx) or by onsite oxygen from a Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) system. Ozone production costs are heavily dependent on the supply method chosen for oxygen which can be as high as 60 to 70% of the cost per pound of ozone delivered. An analysis of an ozone project in North Dakota shows the effect on ozone costs based on the choice of oxygen supply. Therefore, it is critically important that all available modes of oxygen supply be thoroughly investigated. Within the oxygen requirements of 280 lbs/day to 40 tons/day, the traditional form of onsite oxygen generation has been the PSA system. PSA system require a complicated set of valves and require twice as much power as Vacuum Swing Adsorption (VSA) systems therefore their total cost of ownership is typically equivalent or higher than liquid oxygen (LOx) deliveries. Hence, many customers who are presented an option between PSA systems and LOx supply will choose the latter for reliability purposes. VSA's are designed with a much simpler approach to not only conserve 1/2 of the power of PSA systems but also significantly reduce maintenance costs. Based on the analysis of this paper, LOx customers may be able to achieve a significant savings vs. their current LOx supply by considering an onsite VSA solution. Further, customers with variable consumption patterns still may be able to achieve a reasonable payback with significant savings due to the unique turn down capabilities offered by the VSAs.