Coarsely the oxygen which coarsely in the argon

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an argon purification apparatus which can continuously yield purified argon even when the oxygen concentration in crude argon temporarily rises and which can use a compressor having a minimum necessary capacity as an argon compressor, does not require a complicated control of the number of revolutions of an argon compressor, and can make devices, e.g. a catalyst vessel, small-sized; and an operation method therefor.;SOLUTION: The oxygen concentration in crude argon flowing through a crude argon lead-out route 11 is measured. When the measured oxygen concentration rises, a diluted gas is introduced from a diluted gas introduction route 18 to prevent the oxygen concentration in crude argon introduced into a catalyst vessel 15 from becoming higher than a preset oxygen concentration, and a part of the crude argon flowing through the crude argon lead-out route 11 is extracted into a crude argon extraction route 19 so as to keep the suction flow rate by an argon compressor 12 constant.;COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI