Cold box and cryogenic plant including a cold box

摘要

This disclosure discusses providing safer and more accessible insulating cold boxes for cryogenic equipment. A cold box of the current invention includes a housing partially extending out of the cold box jacket wherein equipment that may need to be accessed can be located. The housing includes a breakaway barrier between the main cold box and the external housing to allow overpressures to be relieved into the cold box. Cold boxes may contain cryogenic columns, sections of cryogenic columns, distillation columns, mixing columns, storage vessels, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, and combinations thereof. The housing may contain auxiliary elements such as rotating equipment, pumps, turboexpanders, instrument devices, valves, and piping. Placing auxiliary elements in a housing outside the main cold box allows for safer access to cryogenic equipment.