METHOD OF CONTINUOUS SEPARATION BY COUNTERCURRENT ABSORPTION IN GASEOUS PHASE

摘要

1,213,523. Separation of gaseous mixtures. SOC. DE RECHERCHES TECHNIQUES ET INDUSTRIELLES. 24 Jan., 1968 [31 Jan., 1967; 18 Aug., 1967], No. 3641/68. Heading B1L. A gaseous mixture whose components are to be separated is fed to an intermediate point of a column by line 1, down through which colmn as passing a granular support material which is impregnated with a suitable differential absorbing liquid, so that as the gas passes up the column through the impregnated material ithe streams are moving in countercurrent. The least strongly absorbed components are withdrawn at 2 and the most strongly absorbed components are taken off at 3. As the support material and absorbent passes down the column it passes in turn through purge zone 13, the gas flow leaving which is recycled as desired by line 4 to input line 1, through depletion zone 19, through enrichment zone 21 and finally through desorption zone 15 before leaving through flow regulator 22. The temperature in the various zones is maintained at the appropriate levels by heat exchangers 38, 39 and 40. Gas leaving the colmn by line 27 is separated from fires in cyclone 28 and then passes by line 30 to pneumatic transport unit 25 to carry impregnated solid leaving flow meter 23 up through line 26 to separator 16 and thence back to the head of the column. The binary separation process described is capable of elaboration for the separation of n-component mixtures, and is described in detail in connection with Fig. 3 (not shown) for the separation of a tertiary mixture. A particularly suitable support material is Celite C22 (registered Trade Mark) impregnated as suitable with hydrocarbons, esters, ethers, glycols, silicones and certain other specific solvents, a large number of such absorbing liquids being specified. The process may be applied to the separation of mixtures of hydrocarbons, alcohols, sterols, aldehydes, ketones, amines (including pyridines and picolines), and organic halogen and sulphur compounds.