Oxygen is one of key reactants in various industrial as well as biological processes. For industrial purposes, oxygen is separated or enriched from air through cryogenic and pressure-swing-adsorption methods, but a less costly method is desired. As a new oxygen-enriching method, we propose here a temperature-swing-adsorption method, which combines oxygen-sorptive properties of perovskite type oxides and waste heat from high temperature processes. The heat of high temperature processes has not always been used well in some industries. In steel works, for example, massive amounts of heat are generated from basic oxygen furnaces and coke ovens and major part of the heat is wasted as hot air between 500 and 800 ℃. This hot air can be used as a heat source of the temperature swing process. In addition, steel works consume a lot of oxygen-enriched air so that the waste heat-based production of oxygen-enriched air, if available, will be particularly beneficial to steel works.
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