Direct air capture device

Abstract

A separation station (1) comprising a plurality of separation units (34) for separating carbon dioxide and / or water vapor from ambient air, each separation unit (34) having at least one continuous sealing peripheral wall surrounding at least one cavity (24) in the circumferential direction, said at least one continuous sealing peripheral wall defining an upstream opening (35) and an opposite downstream opening (36), said cavity (24) preferably containing at least one gas adsorption structure (25) for adsorbing said at least one gaseous component under ambient pressure and / or ambient temperature conditions, said plurality of separation units (34) being arranged in at least one substantially vertical collector device wall structure (2) surrounding a single common separation station cavity (21) in the lateral direction, said separation station cavity (21) being covered and closed at the upper side by at least one cover unit (1) provided with at least one air propulsion device (10).

Description

【Technical Field】 【0001】 The present invention relates to a novel apparatus for gas separation, particularly for direct air capture such as CO2 capture from air, which provides a particularly large flow-through cross-section, low pressure drop, low heat mass, few structural components and high efficiency. Also provided are a method for operating such an apparatus and a part of such an apparatus. 【Background Art】 【0002】 Gas separation by adsorption has various applications in industry. For example, in the removal of specific components from a gas stream, the desired product can be the component removed from the stream, the remaining stream after removal, or both. Thus, both trace components and main components of a gas stream can be targeted by the adsorption method. One important application is, for example, the recovery of carbon dioxide (CO2) from gas streams such as flue gas, exhaust gas, industrial waste gas or the atmosphere. Direct air capture (DAC), the direct capture of CO2 from the atmosphere, is one of several means to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions by humans and has an attractive economic outlook as a non-fossil and location-independent CO2 source for the commodity market and for the production of synthetic fuels. 【0003】 One particular approach for DAC is based on a periodic adsorption / desorption process on a chemically functionalized solid adsorbent. For example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 disclose a process based on steam-assisted periodic adsorption / desorption and a process based on a suitable amine-functionalized adsorbent, respectively, for the extraction of carbon dioxide from ambient air. Further, Patent Document 3 describes another class of adsorbents based on potassium carbonate functionalization, which is also suitable for a cyclic CO2 adsorption / desorption process. 【0004】 The adsorption process usually occurs under ambient atmospheric conditions, where air is flowed through the adsorbent, and a portion of the CO2 contained in the air chemically and / or physically binds / adsorbs on the surface of or within the adsorbent. During subsequent CO2 desorption, the adsorbent is usually heated, and optionally, the partial pressure of carbon dioxide surrounding the adsorbent can be reduced by evacuation or exposure to a purge gas stream such as, but not limited to, steam (pressure swing adsorption - PSA). Thereby, the already recovered carbon dioxide is removed from the adsorbent and collected in a concentrated form. 【0005】 One of the main challenges for the energy and cost - efficient implementation of DAC results from the fact that CO2 in the atmosphere is at a low concentration (nominal ~ 400 ppm as of 2019) and correspondingly requires the delivery of a large volume of air to an appropriate gas separation structure. Appropriate gas separation structures containing enclosed adsorbents are presented in Patent Document 4 and Patent Document 5 and can also be applied to a batch - type adsorption - desorption process, in which the above - mentioned structure containing the adsorbent needs to be exposed (adsorbed / contacted) to a large - volume flow of air and then alternately exposed to desorption conditions characterized by high temperature and / or a vacuum pressure up to, for example, 10 mbar (abs). This requires a chamber structure that, on the one hand, enables the adsorbent to be exposed to a large - volume flow of air for CO2 adsorption and, on the other hand, appropriately seals the adsorbent from the ambient air during desorption and withstands an adsorbent temperature of up to 130 °C, a mixture of CO2, air, and water vapor and water as a liquid, and optionally, a vacuum pressure of up to 10 mbar (abs) (if a vacuum is required for desorption). One such appropriate structure is the unit disclosed in Patent Document 6. Therefore, in general, infrastructure that minimizes the pressure drop during adsorption through - flow and, second, makes the part with the largest such pressure drop due to the part of the unit that actually recovers CO2 is particularly advantageous. 【0006】 As prior art, there are many examples of periodic adsorption / desorption processes that typically occur within columns of long, narrow, thick-walled tubes having a small flow cross-section. The above devices are used for gas separation based on pressure and / or vacuum swings and are typically operated with very short cycle times on the order of seconds to minutes. During that cycle time, their thermal mass or thermal inertia does not play a major role. Further, these devices are typically exposed to high-pressure streams having high adsorbate concentrations and thus can use apertures and flow conduits that are significantly smaller than their cross-sections because the pressure drop across the above features is relatively small. For example, Patent Document 7 relates to a plurality of pressure swing adsorption columns operating in parallel and discloses details regarding column structure and assembly, details regarding flow control and cycle optimization. Patent Document 8 refers to methods and apparatus for pure vacuum swing desorption within classical adsorption columns, as well as processes and apparatus for classical adsorption columns. Certain prior art systems such as Patent Document 9 show gas separation structures based on parallel passages that are actually intended to reduce the pressure drop while contained within a cylindrical pressure vessel for a PSA process. 【0007】 When a vacuum is used for the donning / doffing step, there are problems with pressure drop around the gas control structures at the inlet and outlet. A number of prior art systems further show large actuated swing lids identified as flaps or dampers, and at that time, the unit is generally not designed for pressure differences greater than about 0.2 bar. Certain isolation valves are particularly suitable for vacuum applications but must have a fairly large material thickness and are limited in size to handle the large forces due to vacuum applications. As a result, such valves have a high thermal mass when applied to alternating heating / cooling steps and cannot provide the required flow-through area. Some further prior art systems can have an actuating mechanism. Patent Document 10 discloses a rotary flap valve for a fume hood incorporated into ducting for use in ventilation applications, but it is not suitable for a vacuum. Patent Document 11 relates to a bypass / redirect damper (valve) for gas turbine applications and is not suitable for a vacuum. Patent Document 12 discloses a curved vacuum lid, and the curved vacuum lid attempts to reduce the material thickness but does not match the requirement for a minimum pressure drop across the flow cross-section due to the effective thickness of the lid within the ducting. Patent Documents 13 and 14 propose an actuated vacuum lid and valve through which the container can be evacuated, but they are not suitable for the airflows thousands of times larger required for DAC applications. 【0008】 A particular DAC container solution using a swing lid is also found in Patent Document 6, but in Patent Document 6, the flow restriction may reduce the output. As shown in Patent Documents 15, 16, and 17, some prior art systems for regenerating a solid sorbent in contact with it in DAC applications involve transferring the sorbent and the gas separation structure between a first region of the air flow for adsorption and a second region in the form of a regeneration chamber. 【0009】 Patent Document 18 provides a carbon dioxide removal device that can efficiently adsorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and remove carbon dioxide by only slight heating. The proposed carbon dioxide removal device is equipped with a perovskite-structured carbon dioxide adsorption film having an exposure surface to the atmosphere containing carbon dioxide molecules, a heating device for heating the carbon dioxide adsorption film, and an exhaust device for exhausting the space around the carbon dioxide adsorption film. The carbon dioxide adsorption film performs chemical adsorption of carbon dioxide molecules from the atmosphere, and the heating device releases the carbon dioxide molecules adsorbed on the carbon dioxide adsorption film. 【0010】 Patent Document 19 discloses a separation unit for separating at least one gaseous component from a gas mixture or an arrangement configuration of such a separation unit. This separation unit includes at least one peripheral wall element, and the peripheral wall element defines an upstream opening and an opposite downstream opening of at least one cavity. This cavity includes at least one gas adsorption structure for adsorbing the gaseous component under ambient pressure and / or ambient temperature conditions, or includes an array of at least two such cavities. This separation unit includes a pair of opposing slide doors for sealing the openings of the cavity and preferably enabling the evacuation of the cavity. The pair of opposing slide doors can be shifted in a direction substantially parallel to the plane of each slide door to enable the flow-through of the gas mixture through the gas adsorption structure. 【0011】 Patent Document 20 discloses a system and method for continuously separating carbon dioxide from a gas mixture using a porous monolith having a continuous loop of the porous monolith that supports an adsorbent within the pores of the monolith. A portion of the continuous loop of the monolith is continuously exposed to a flow of the gas mixture containing a minor portion of carbon dioxide to adsorb carbon dioxide from this flow. This loop passes through a sealed regeneration and carbon dioxide recovery assembly arranged across a portion of the loop, and this assembly can seal and accommodate the monolith that moves relatively within the assembly. The assembly chamber has a plurality of sealed and separated zones, and these zones include at least one zone for purging oxygen from the monolith, a zone for heating the monolith to release the adsorbed carbon dioxide following this, and another cooling zone for cooling the monolith prior to reintroduction to the adsorbing portion of the loop that is exposed to oxygen. 【0012】 Patent Document 21 provides a structurally stable monolithic substrate suitable for providing a carbon dioxide recovery structure for removing carbon dioxide from air. This carbon dioxide recovery structure has two main opposing surfaces, and further has a plurality of vertical channels that extend between and open through these two main opposing surfaces of the structurally stable monolithic substrate; and an adherent coating formed of aggregated compact mesoporous particles adhered to the inner wall surfaces of the vertical channels, the coating being formed of a material that conforms to and adheres to the material forming the underlying substrate structure when coated. The mesoporous particles can support an adsorbent for CO2 within their mesopores. Also provided are a method for forming the monolith and a system for utilizing the monolith as part of the CO2 recovery structure, a system for removing CO2 from the atmosphere within this system. 【0013】 Patent Document 22 discloses a system and method for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This system includes a plurality of carbon recovery containers, a plurality of fans, an air diverter, and a velocity stack. Each carbon recovery container has an outer-facing side and an inner-facing side, and the inner-facing side faces an enclosed space. The fans are arranged adjacent to the carbon recovery containers. The fans are arranged to move air through the carbon recovery containers in a first direction from the outer-facing side towards the enclosed space. The air diverter is arranged within the enclosed space, receives the air flowing in the first direction, and redirects this air to flow in a second direction that bends upward from the first direction. The velocity stack is arranged at the upper part of the enclosed space and is configured to accelerate the air flow in the second direction. 【Prior Art Documents】 【Patent Documents】 【0014】 【Patent Document 1】 International Publication No. 2016 / 005226 【Patent Document 2】 International Publication No. 2017 / 009241 【Patent Document 3】 International Publication No. 2019 / 092128 【Patent Document 4】 Specification of US Patent Application Publication No. 2017 / 0326494 【Patent Document 5】 International Publication No. 2018 / 083109 【Patent Document 6】 International Publication No. 2015 / 185434 【Patent Document 7】 Specification of US Patent No. 8,034,164 【Patent Document 8】 Specification of US Patent No. 6,878,186 【Patent Document 9】 International Publication No. 2013 / 117827 【Patent Document 10】 Specification of European Patent Application Publication No. 0864819 【Patent Document 11】 U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005 / 005609 【Patent Document 12】 British Patent Application Publication No. 621195 【Patent Document 13】 French Patent Invention No. 1148736 【Patent Document 14】 U.S. Patent No. 3,857,545 【Patent Document 15】 U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012 / 0174779 【Patent Document 16】 U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011 / 0296872 【Patent Document 17】 International Publication No. 2013166432 【Patent Document 18】 Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009172479 【Patent Document 19】 International Publication No. 2020 / 212146 【Patent Document 20】 International Publication No. 2021252695 【Patent Document 21】 International Publication No. 2021 / 189042 【Patent Document 22】 U.S. Patent No. 11266943 【Summary of the Invention】 【0015】 The object of the present invention is to provide an improved carbon dioxide capture device that enables a carbon dioxide recovery process that is as efficient as possible, particularly for direct air capture, and preferably has a modular architecture with optimal maintainability, replaceability, and construction and manufacturing costs, and provides an efficient operation process. 【0016】 Accordingly, in a first aspect of the present invention, the present invention relates to a separation station according to claim 1 for separating gaseous carbon dioxide from a gas mixture containing the gaseous carbon dioxide and a further gas different from the gaseous carbon dioxide, preferably from at least one of ambient air, flue gas and biogas, by means of periodic adsorption / desorption using an adsorbent of the gas adsorption structure that adsorbs the gaseous carbon dioxide in a separation unit. 【0017】 More specifically, according to this first aspect of the present invention, the present invention relates to a separation station comprising a plurality of stationary separation units for separating at least one gaseous component from a gas mixture containing the gaseous component, in particular for separating carbon dioxide and / or water vapor from ambient air. 【0018】 According to the present invention, each separation unit has at least one continuous sealing peripheral wall surrounding at least one cavity in the circumferential direction, the at least one continuous sealing peripheral wall defining an upstream opening and a downstream opening on the opposite side, and the cavity preferably contains at least one gas adsorption structure for adsorbing at least one gaseous component under ambient pressure and / or ambient temperature conditions. Typically, the separation unit has a rectangular or square cross-section in a direction perpendicular to the flow-through direction, and preferably all separation units have the same cross-section and are arranged in a two-dimensional array. 【0019】 Furthermore, the plurality of separation units are arranged in at least one substantially vertical collecting device wall structure surrounding a single common separation station cavity in the lateral direction. This single common separation station cavity is fluidly connected to all the openings of all the separation units of the entire separation station, so this cavity is a space common to all the separation units and there are no separation walls in this common separation station cavity. 【0020】 Furthermore, the separation station cavity is covered and closed at the upper side by at least one cover unit provided with at least one air propulsion device. 【0021】 When referring to a plurality of stationary separation units in the context of the present invention, this means that all separation units are fixed in space, and in particular, during the process of separating at least one gaseous component from a gas mixture containing the gaseous component, the separation unit and the gas adsorption structure contained therein remain in a predetermined position, for example, they cannot be shifted between different positions in space because they have a position in one space for adsorption and a position in the other space for desorption. 【0022】 In particular, this structure for direct air recovery provides an optimal setup that can operate the entire plurality of separation units jointly and cooperatively using one joined air propulsion device or a group of air propulsion devices. For the air flow, the outgoing air (when the air propulsion device of the cover unit is pushing air into the common separation station cavity) or the sucked-in air (when the air propulsion device of the cover unit is drawing air from the common separation station cavity) optimally moves horizontally, and the air pushed out from the cover unit or the air sucked into the cover unit moves vertically. This provides a great advantage because it can efficiently reduce crosstalk between separation stations, especially if such a set of separation stations is operated adjacent to each other in a predetermined area. 【0023】 More specifically, calculations show that by disconnecting the air propulsion device from the individual separation units, the number of air propulsion devices per individual separation unit can be reduced, and at the same time, redundancy is provided and investment costs are reduced. Furthermore, according to the calculations, in the proposed design where the air propulsion device is disconnected from the individual separation units, the overall volumetric flow can be reduced, so generally the energy demand is shown to be lower. 【0024】 Typically, the vertical collection device wall structure takes the shape of a vertically oriented polygonal column having at least three separate substantially flat collection device walls. Further, each collection device wall has at least four separation units arranged in a regular array of vertical columns and horizontal rows. The separation units of each collection device wall usually further have at least one pair of opposing slide doors for sealing the upstream and downstream openings of at least one cavity respectively, and each pair of opposing slide doors opens the upstream and downstream openings respectively to open the closed cavity, thereby enabling a through-flow of the gas mixture through the cavity, and is shifted in a direction substantially parallel to the plane of each slide door. 【0025】 Accordingly, according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the present invention also relates to such a group of separation stations arranged in an array adjacent to each other. 【0026】 Furthermore, if there are a plurality of air propulsion devices in the cover unit, this provides optimal redundancy applicable to all separation units of the entire station and reduces the risk of failure. 【0027】 In addition to this, the proposed separation station enables optimal modularity and a compact architecture as much as possible. 【0028】 According to the first preferred embodiment, the separation station is characterized in that the above-mentioned vertical collection device wall structure takes the shape of a vertically oriented cylinder or elliptical cylinder, or preferably comprises 3 to 8 substantially flat collection device walls and is vertically oriented, preferably taking the shape of a regular polygonal column. 【0029】 According to yet another preferred embodiment, the above-mentioned vertical collecting device wall structure has a vertically oriented, preferably regular polygonal prism shape with substantially flat 3 to 8, preferably 4 to 6 collecting device walls, and preferably vertical members functioning as struts for the separation station are provided at and / or between adjacent vertical edges of the collecting device walls. The vertical members may take the form of lattice-like struts. 【0030】 According to yet another preferred embodiment, the above-mentioned vertical members protrude downward beyond the lower horizontal edges of the collecting device walls, whereby there is a free space towards the ground below the vertical collecting device walls. In other words, there is an upper part of the separation station where the separation walls are arranged, and this upper part is separated from the ground by these protruding parts of the vertical members. 【0031】 Preferably, the supply pipe, and / or the control wire for the separation unit, and / or the control wire for the control door for opening and / or closing the separation unit if present, is at least partially located inside or adjacent to the above-mentioned vertical members, which is particularly convenient when there is a space between the horizontal rows of separation units in the collecting device walls where corresponding supply pipes, and / or control wires for the separation unit, and / or control wires for the control door for opening and / or closing the separation unit if present, which can be directly connected to the corresponding structures inside the vertical members, can be arranged. 【0032】 According to a further preferred embodiment, the separation station has at least 3, preferably 4 to 8 or in the range of 4 to 6 substantially flat and separated horizontal collecting device walls, and each collecting device wall has at least 4, preferably at least 8, preferably 8 to 25 or 10 to 20 separation units arranged in a regular array of vertical columns and horizontal rows. 【0033】 Preferably, adjacent vertical peripheral wall portions of adjacent separation units along a horizontal row are formed as a common joining wall, and there is a space between the horizontal peripheral wall portions of adjacent separation units between adjacent horizontal rows of separation units, and within the space are located supply pipes, and / or control wires for the separation units, and / or control wires for a control door for opening and / or closing the separation units if present. This is particularly convenient for combination with corresponding supply parts, and / or structures located inside the vertical members can be moved. 【0034】 Alternatively, adjacent horizontal peripheral wall portions of adjacent separation units along a vertical column may be formed as a common joining wall, and there may be a space between the vertical peripheral wall portions of adjacent separation units between adjacent vertical columns of separation units, and within this space are located supply pipes, and / or control wires for the separation units, and / or control wires for a control door for opening and / or closing the separation units if present. 【0035】 According to yet another preferred embodiment, the cover unit preferably has a plurality of air propulsion devices in the form of fans, and preferably these air propulsion devices are arranged in an array, preferably an array of at least 3×3 air propulsion devices, preferably at least 4×4, 5×5, or 6×6 air propulsion devices. 【0036】 As described above, each propulsion device is fluidly connected to the common separation station cavity so as to allow flow between the opening (facing the common separation station cavity) of all separation units and the air propulsion device. Since one separation unit or a group of separation units of the separation station is always closed, the air propulsion device or the array of air propulsion devices only needs to provide an equal flow to the open separation units (fewer fans and lower specific power consumption). 【0037】 The separation station typically comprises a control unit that enables synchronously controlling a plurality of air propulsion devices, in particular starting and / or stopping them simultaneously. Preferably, the separation station has, for this control unit, at least one or a group of frequency converters for jointly controlling the air propulsion devices. In practice, the fan grid should start simultaneously to prevent short-circuit flow through adjacent fans, and reducing the starting current of the fan grid is also desirable to reduce the extent of the electrical cables. As a result of the simultaneous start of the fan grid, a high inrush current can occur that can be 5 to 6 times higher than the high load current. 【0038】 The solution is the use of a frequency converter, by which the frequency can be increased slowly and the system characteristic curve can be raised to the desired operating point. By using a frequency converter, the frequency can be increased slowly and the system characteristic curve can be raised to the desired operating point. 【0039】 Typically, the separation station has at least 3, preferably in the range of 4 to 6, substantially flat and separated horizontal collecting device walls, and each collecting device wall has at least 4, preferably at least 8, preferably 8 to 25 or 10 to 20 separation units arranged in a regular array of vertical columns and horizontal rows, whereby the separation units are arranged in a matrix on the collecting device walls. 【0040】 In such an arrangement, preferably, the separation units of each collecting device wall further have at least one pair of opposing slide doors for sealing the upstream and downstream openings of at least one cavity each, and each pair of opposing slide doors opens the upstream and downstream openings respectively to open the closed cavity, whereby they are shifted in a direction substantially parallel to the plane of each slide door to enable a through-flow of the gas mixture through the cavity. 【0041】 In such a setup, each collection device wall preferably takes the form of a pair of horizontal slide door columns that are shifted vertically between the adsorption cycle and the desorption cycle, preferably to open and close a row of separation units, and has only one common pair of the array of slide doors. In this case, preferably, the adjacent vertical peripheral wall portions of adjacent separation units along the horizontal row are formed as a common joining wall, and / or there is a space between the adjacent separation units between the horizontal rows, and within the space, there are supply pipes and / or control wires for the separation units located therein. 【0042】 Alternatively, the slide doors preferably take the form of a pair of vertical slide door columns that are shifted horizontally between the adsorption cycle and the desorption cycle to open and close a row of separation units, and preferably, the preferably adjacent horizontal peripheral wall portions of adjacent separation units along the vertical columns are formed as a common joining wall, and / or there is a space between the adjacent separation units between the vertical columns, and within the space, there are supply pipes and / or control wires for the separation units located therein. 【0043】 At least one cavity may preferably have a rectangular or square cross-section, in which case a set of four consecutive sealing peripheral wall elements is provided, including one lower wall element, one upper wall element opposite thereto, and two opposite side peripheral wall elements that join the corresponding ends of the upper and lower wall elements and surround the cavity circumferentially. The above set of four consecutive sealing peripheral wall elements defines the upstream opening and the opposite downstream opening of the cavity. 【0044】 When the cavities of the separation units in the array are adjacent, the adjacent walls of the adjacent cavities can be formed by wall elements common to the adjacent cavities. 【0045】 When defining a lower wall element and an upper wall element facing it, this means that each cavity must be oriented in a horizontal flow-through direction. 【0046】 At least one cavity may have a polygonal cross-section. For example, the cavity may have a set of eight consecutive enclosing peripheral wall elements, at least one lower wall element, at least one upper wall element facing it, joining the corresponding ends of the upper and lower wall elements directly or via another inclined wall element, preferably forming a hexagonal structure in this case, and may have at least two circumferential side wall elements surrounding the cavity in the circumferential direction. The above set of eight consecutive enclosing peripheral wall elements defines the upstream opening and the opposite downstream opening of the cavity. 【0047】 The proposed principle can be applied to any polygonal or circular flow-through cross-sectional shape defined by a set of substantially cylindrical continuous enclosing peripheral wall elements or wall elements forming each cavity. For example, cross-sectional shapes such as triangular, rectangular, square, pentagonal, hexagonal, and octagonal are possible. 【0048】 A circular structure is also possible. In this case, at least one cavity has a single circular or elliptical peripheral wall element. 【0049】 The above at least one cavity preferably contains or can at least contain at least one gas adsorption structure for adsorbing at least one gaseous component under ambient pressure and / or ambient temperature conditions. When the separation unit has two or more cavities in, for example, one array, each cavity may contain or may contain at least one individual gas adsorption structure of such a type. 【0050】 According to such an aspect of the present invention, each separation unit or group of separation units has a pair of opposing slide doors for sealing the upstream and downstream openings of at least one cavity in a closed state of the at least one cavity. The pair of opposing slide doors seals. When two or more cavities provided with a pair of doors are provided, the pair of opposing slide doors can (but not necessarily all) seal two or more of these cavities simultaneously. 【0051】 Typically, the pair of opposing slide doors is attached to open and close the cavity synchronously according to the operating state. 【0052】 The pair of opposing slide doors is preferably attached to close one cavity or a group of cavities only once alternately, and then to be periodically shifted to the next cavity or group of cavities, etc., preferably as will be described in more detail later. In such an array, the pair of opposing slide doors may be attached to allow a position where the cavity is not sealed and preferably all cavities are available for through-flow or for other functions where sealing by the pair of opposing slide doors is not required, as will be described in more detail later. 【0053】 To open at least one cavity, the pair of opposing slide doors may be shifted in a direction substantially parallel to the plane of each slide door so as to open the upstream and downstream openings and enable a through-flow of the gas mixture through each cavity and the gas adsorption structure located in these cavities respectively. To release the corresponding sealing mechanism, the sliding movement of the door may include a step in which the door is lifted from the corresponding opening in addition to or concomitant with the slide. 【0054】 The proposed separation station enables, in particular, as will be described further below, the provision of an array of cavities, in which a single pair of sliding doors is used to alternately open and close adjacent cavities containing adsorption structures, enabling the periodic operation of the adjacent cavities. In particular, depending on the temporal distribution between adsorption and desorption, an appropriate number of cavities can be combined in such an array. For example, if the ratio between two stages is 2:1, a structure in the form of a separation unit comprising an array of three cavities and a pair of opposing sliding doors alternately closes one of the cavities in the array for the desorption step, while the other two cavities in the array are arranged to be subjected to the lateral flow-through of air and / or gas mixture and the adsorption process. 【0055】 In a further embodiment of the invention, the sliding door can be moved to a position outside the array of cavities containing the adsorption structures. Since the closing of the cavities is not required and thus the door can be placed in this position when any desorption and adsorption timing is possible, in such a "neutral" position, the temporal distribution of the adsorption-desorption process is decoupled from the geometric configuration of the cavities and the array. By placing this "neutral" position at the bottom or side of such an array of cavities, a safe position for holding the door is further provided, during which trials, maintenance or other operations are performed on the adsorption structures within the array. 【0056】 Thus, in the case of an array of cavities, a pair of slide doors can be arranged adjacent to the array of cavities or within a slot between the cavities without sealing any of the cavities, such that all the cavities are open to the flow of the gas mixture, and then the slide doors can move to the cavity that has been exposed to the gas mixture for the longest period for adsorbing, so as to seal the next cavity. Then, this cavity can be exposed to a state for desorbing and extracting the gaseous components that need desorbing as required, or the slide doors can be left in an adjacent position to enable testing, maintenance or other operations on the entire structure or the array of cavities. 【0057】 Preferably, the cavities can be evacuated by the slide doors. In this case, the cavities are vacuum cavities with a pressure of less than 700 mbar (abs) or less than 500 mbar (abs), preferably less than 300 mbar (abs) or less than 150 mbar (abs) or at most 100 mbar (abs). Preferably, the separation unit can evacuate the cavities to a pressure in the range of 500 to 10 mbar (abs) in a closed state. 【0058】 More preferably, the slide doors can expose the cavities to an overpressure (relative to the normal external pressure of typically 1.01325 bar) up to +0.1 bar (g), or up to +0.2 bar (g), or up to +0.5 bar (g). 【0059】 According to a preferred embodiment of the proposed separation unit with slide doors, the upper wall element and the lower wall element of at least one cavity are arranged parallel to each other, the side wall elements are arranged parallel to each other, and preferably, the pair of opposing slide doors are also arranged parallel to each other. 【0060】 Preferably, one or a set of preferably movable louvers forming the inlet introduction part are provided, and preferably, movable louvers are provided. 【0061】 One or both of the sliding doors can be attached to a pair of upper and lower rails, or can be attached to a pair of rails on the opposing lateral sides of the unit. The rails can be C-shaped rails. Preferably, the doors move by means of rollers within or along these rails, in which case, more preferably, each door can be pressed against the corresponding axial face of each opening in a position for closing, particularly for forming a seal, and means are provided for separating the door from the sealed position again and sliding the door to free each opening, and further, the upper and lower rails (or lateral rails if the doors move vertically) along which the doors move can extend beyond the dimensions of the array, whereby the doors can be passed to the neutral position described above. 【0062】 Each opening of the sliding door and / or the cavity can preferably be provided with at least one circumferential sealing element in the form of at least one sealing ring and / or in the form of a sealing coating. 【0063】 The means for pressing each door against the corresponding axial face and for separating the door again to open each opening can be provided, for example, preferably by a pneumatic drive device, in an axially shiftable form, by a pair of upper and lower rails attached to the frame or the peripheral wall. 【0064】 Preferably, the pair of sliding doors are each driven or jointly driven, for example, by a belt attached to a pair of pulleys. 【0065】 The axial length of the peripheral wall, i.e., the length of the wall in the flow-through direction of at least one cavity, is preferably less than the minimum distance between the opposing peripheral wall elements. 【0066】 The peripheral wall can enclose a rectangular or square cross-section, and the pair of sliding doors correspondingly are rectangular or square. 【0067】 The door pair slide drive can be constructed to enable synchronized parallel movement (only) of the doors that takes place in pairs, at least during the recovery process. In particular, for maintenance purposes, the possibility of moving the doors without synchronizing them may also be provided. 【0068】 The separation unit may further have at least one stabilizing element, preferably in the form of at least one stabilizing strut, in or within at least one or preferably all of the cavities, in order to ensure that the structure is strong enough to withstand vacuum or overpressure conditions if desired. For the same purpose, at least one, preferably both, of the slide doors may preferably have stabilizing elements on the outside with respect to the cavities, preferably in the form of ribs. 【0069】 As described above, typically, the pair of opposing slide doors is mounted so as to be able to alternately seal one cavity of the separation station and continuously the other cavity. Preferably, the pair of opposing slide doors is mounted in such an array so as to allow a position where the cavity is not sealed and preferably all cavities are available for flow-through or for other functions where sealing by the pair of opposing slide doors is not required. 【0070】 The cavities in such an array can have any of the cavity structures as described above, i.e., they can have a rectangular, triangular, square, hexagonal, octagonal or circular cross-sectional shape, and preferably all cavities of the separation unit have the same cross-sectional shape and dimensions, whereby each cavity can be alternately sealed by the same pair of opposing sealing doors. 【0071】 One advantage of such a solution over the prior art is that the infrastructure for a pair of opposing movable sealing doors can be utilized for a plurality of cavities, thereby enabling cost savings and improved reliability for a plurality of doors or lids. Further, the complexity and delicacy of the movable elements are extremely low, thereby reducing the risk. Further, in a regeneration method utilizing thermal swing and / or steam swing, the doors remain hot when being moved between the regeneration cavities, thereby reducing the effective heat mass of regeneration and thus the energy demand. Yet another advantage of this solution applied to pressure swing processes and temperature swing processes is the amount of structural cavity material per unit volume enclosed, which amount, in the present invention, is significantly lower than that of any prior art device due to a common separation wall, a common door, and surrounding walls stabilizing each other, leading to significant cost reduction, complexity reduction, and energy savings in the thermal swing process. Finally, a distinct advantage of the present invention is that the full cross-section of each cavity can be utilized as a flow-through region without a common obstacle to flaps, lids, valves, or other flow restrictors. Correspondingly, when an allowable pressure drop "budget" occurs, this overall value can be applied to the gas adsorption structure retained within the cavity through which the gas flow must pass, resulting in an increased volume of gas flow and enabling a higher capture rate of this type in the application of gas separation. 【0072】 In such an array, the cavities of the array in the collection device wall can be arranged adjacent to each other in one or more rows, and the peripheral wall elements of adjacent cavities can be formed by a common separation wall. Preferably, the cavities of the array are arranged in a single horizontal row or a vertical row and are directly adjacent to each other. 【0073】 Typically, such a collection device wall includes a single frame forming the peripheral wall elements of all the cavities. 【0074】 According to yet another preferred embodiment of the separation station, at least one, preferably all, of the cavities of the separation unit have at least one adsorbent cassette, which can be removed from and / or inserted into each cavity as a self-supporting unit. 【0075】 Preferably, the adsorbent cassette has at least one adsorbent monolith, adsorbent sheet, adsorbent coating, honeycomb, or adsorbent cavity provided by a mesh or lattice structure, the width of the mesh being smaller than the minimum particle size of the particulate adsorbent particles, preferably the mesh being a wire grid, preferably a metal wire grid or a polymer wire grid, most preferably an aluminum wire grid or a stainless steel wire grid. 【0076】 The particulate adsorbent particles in such a sheet, coating or adsorbent cavity may be polymer-based particles or inorganic particles having amine functional groups suitable and adapted for the recovery of carbon dioxide, and / or at least partially inorganic, organic or activated carbon-based particles suitable and adapted for the recovery of carbon dioxide and / or metal-organic frameworks, preferably particles functionalized with alkali carbonates or amine functionality. 【0077】 The particulate adsorbent particles in such a sheet, coating or adsorbent cavity may have a particle size in the range of 0.01 to 5 mm or in the range of 0.5 to 2 mm, and may have flow characteristics without substantial mechanical wear, the carrier structure preferably being selected from the group of polymers, ceramics, organic solids, zeolites, metals, clays, capsules or hybrids thereof. 【0078】 The above separation station cavity may be further covered and closed by at least one bottom cover unit on the lower side facing the ground. Preferably, such a bottom cover unit preferably has one or more air propulsion devices in the form of fans, and preferably these air propulsion devices are arranged in an array, preferably an array of at least 3×3 air propulsion devices, preferably at least 4×4, 5×5, or 6×6 air propulsion devices. Further, such a bottom cover unit may be further structured as another collection device wall. In this case, the horizontal collection device wall can be arranged to provide an additional adsorbent structure and can be connected to the common separation station cavity. 【0079】 It is also possible for the collection device wall structure to extend to the ground. In this case, if there are vertical members, these vertical members do not have to protrude beyond the lower horizontal edge of the collection device wall structure, or there may be a space between the lower horizontal edge of the collection device wall structure and the ground where the separation station is installed, but there is a vertical wall between the vertical members under the collection device wall structure. Propulsion devices may be located inside these vertical members. 【0080】 Therefore, the separation station preferably has a vertically oriented, preferably regular polygonal prism shape in which the above-mentioned vertical collection device wall structure has substantially flat 3 to 8, preferably 4 to 6 collection device walls, and vertical members that function as struts for the separation station are provided at and / or between adjacent vertical edges of the collection device walls. The above vertical members protrude downward beyond the lower horizontal edge of the collection device wall, so that there is a free space towards the ground below the vertical collection device wall. There is a continuous sealing wall (which may be provided with air propulsion devices) between the vertical members, the lower horizontal edges of the respective collection device walls, and the ground where the separation station is arranged to prevent the inflow of outside air from below the vertical collection device wall into a single common separation station cavity. Alternatively, the lower horizontal edge of the collection device wall may be substantially aligned with the ground where the separation station is located (locally sealed by additional sealing elements / walls if necessary) and configured to prevent the inflow of outside air from below the vertical collection device wall into a single common separation station cavity. 【0081】 In such a setup, each air propulsion device is fluidly connected to the common separation station cavity so as to allow flow between the openings facing the common separation station cavity of all separation units and the air propulsion device. 【0082】 More preferably, in such a setup, the separation station comprises a control unit that enables synchronization between a plurality of air propulsion devices in the bottom cover unit, and / or synchronization with the air propulsion devices in the cover unit, and / or control thereof, in particular enabling simultaneous start-up and / or stop, and preferably the separation station has at least one or a group of frequency converters for jointly controlling the air propulsion devices in the bottom cover unit and / or the cover unit for this control unit. 【0083】 According to yet another preferred embodiment of such a separation station, the separation station is attached to or has at least one or a plurality of common exhaust units, and / or one or more common heating and / or steam supply units, and / or one or more common collection units for gaseous components, and / or one or more sets of louvers on the upstream side, and in each case is common to all cavities or common to all cavities in one vertical collection device wall structure. 【0084】 According to a further aspect of the present invention, the present invention relates to a separation unit for separating gaseous carbon dioxide from a gas mixture comprising the gaseous carbon dioxide and a further gas different from the gaseous carbon dioxide, preferably from at least one of ambient air, flue gas and biogas, by periodic adsorption / desorption using an adsorbent of a gas adsorption structure that adsorbs the gaseous carbon dioxide in the separation unit, and to a method of operating a separation station as described above, comprising at least one array of separation units. 【0085】 This method is carried out in a coordinated manner in each separation unit and has at least the following steps (a) to (e) which are repeated continuously and in this order, namely: (a) In the adsorption step, under ambient atmospheric pressure conditions and under ambient atmospheric temperature conditions, the gas mixture is brought into contact with the adsorbent so that at least the gaseous carbon dioxide (a part or substantially all of the gaseous carbon dioxide, i.e. CO2) can be adsorbed by the adsorbent by means of a flow-through through the unit (and thus through and / or above the adsorbent which adsorbs at least a part of the gaseous carbon dioxide). If the ambient air is pushed / pulled by a device such as a ventilation device, this is still considered to be under ambient atmospheric pressure conditions in accordance with the present application, even if the air pushed / pulled through the reactor by the ventilation device has a pressure slightly higher or lower than the surrounding ambient atmospheric pressure, provided that the pressure is within the range detailed in the definition of "ambient atmospheric pressure" below); (b) Preferably, while substantially maintaining the temperature in the adsorbent, isolating the adsorbent containing the carbon dioxide adsorbed in the unit from the flow-through; (c) Step of raising the temperature of the adsorbent material to a temperature preferably in the range of 60 to 110 °C to initiate desorption of CO2. This can be achieved, for example, by injecting a partial flow of fully saturated or superheated steam, preferably through the unit and above the adsorbent / through-flow through the adsorbent, thereby raising the temperature of the adsorbent material to a temperature in the range of 60 to 110 °C and initiating desorption of CO2; (d) Step of extracting at least the gaseous carbon dioxide desorbed from the unit (preferably most or all of the desorbed gaseous carbon dioxide) and separating the gaseous carbon dioxide, preferably by condensation, inside or downstream of the unit; (e) Step of bringing the adsorbent material to ambient atmospheric temperature conditions and ambient atmospheric pressure conditions (even if the adsorbent material is not precisely cooled to the surrounding ambient temperature conditions in this step, this is still considered to be due to this step, and preferably, the ambient atmospheric temperature established in this step (e) is in the range of the surrounding ambient temperature + 25 °C, preferably in the range of + 10 °C or + 5 °C) It has. 【0086】 In the context of the present disclosure, the expressions "ambient atmospheric pressure" and "ambient atmospheric temperature" mean the pressure conditions and temperature conditions to which a plant operated outdoors is exposed. That is, typically, ambient atmospheric pressure refers to a pressure in the range of 0.8 to 1.1 bar abs, and typically, ambient atmospheric temperature refers to a temperature in the range of -40 to 60 °C, more typically, a temperature in the range of -30 to 45 °C. The gas mixture used as an input for this process is preferably ambient air, i.e., air at ambient atmospheric pressure and ambient atmospheric temperature, which usually means a CO2 concentration in the range of 0.03 to 0.06 volume % and a relative humidity in the range of 3 to 100 %. However, air with a lower relative humidity, i.e., less than 3 % relative humidity or a lower or higher CO2 concentration, e.g., a CO2 concentration in the range of 0.1 to 0.5 volume %, can also be used as an input for the process. Thus, generally speaking, preferably the input CO2 concentration of the input gas mixture is in the range of 0.01 to 0.5 volume %. 【0087】 According to the proposed method, at least one or more air propulsion devices within the cover unit are operated to draw air from a common separation station cavity throughout the entire cycle, and in such a case, at least one or more air propulsion devices within the bottom cover unit are operated to draw air into and / or push air into the common separation station cavity. 【0088】 Alternatively, such a unit can be operated to push air into a common separation station cavity using the air propulsion devices within the cover, and in such a case, at least one or more air propulsion devices within the bottom cover can also be operated to draw air into the common separation station cavity. 【0089】 Preferably, according to this method, at the separation station, steps that are repeated continuously and in this order in the array of separation units are synchronously implemented such that at least half of the separation units, preferably at least three - quarters of the separation units, more preferably at least three - quarters or at least four - fifths of the separation units of the entire separation station are in the adsorption step, and the remaining separation units are each dedicated to the other steps. 【0090】 According to a preferred embodiment of such a method for operating a separation station as described above, it has at least one pair of sliding doors, and this pair of sliding doors is positioned to seal one cavity of the array for steps (b) to (e), while the other cavities are opened to the flow-through of the gas mixture in step (a), the sealed cavity is exposed to conditions for desorbing and extracting the gaseous components, while the other cavities are promoted by the propulsion device to adsorb at least one gaseous component from the gas mixture, and when the desorption in the sealed cavity is completed, the pair of sliding doors is shifted to the next cavity or an array of cavities, preferably to the cavity in the array that has been exposed to gas mixture adsorption for the longest time span, to seal this next cavity or an array of cavities, and then the next cavity or an array of cavities is exposed to the conditions of steps (b) to (e) for desorbing and extracting the gaseous components, while the other cavities are promoted by a gas or air propulsion device to adsorb at least one gaseous component from the gas mixture in step (a), preferably, this sequence of steps is continued in the same way to sequentially seal and extract all the cavities in the array, and this sequence of adsorption and desorption steps equal to the number of cavities in the array is repeated periodically at least once, preferably at least 100 times, or at least 1000 times. 【0091】 Finally, the present invention relates to the use of the above-described separation station or the above-described method for separating carbon dioxide and / or water vapor from ambient air. 【0092】 Further embodiments of the present invention are described in the dependent claims. 【0093】 Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The drawings are for the purpose of illustrating the presently preferred embodiments of the present invention and are not for the purpose of limiting the present invention. 【Brief Description of the Drawings】 【0094】 【Figure 1a】 Various views showing a separation station and parts thereof, where a) is an isometric perspective view seen from above. 【Figure 1b】 Various views showing a separation station and parts thereof, where b) is a view showing a cover unit with a fan. 【Figure 1c】 Various views showing a separation station and parts thereof, where c) is a view showing a collection device wall. 【Figure 1d】 Various views showing a separation station and parts thereof, where d) is a vertical central cross-sectional view in which the air flow is schematically shown. 【Figure 2a】 Various views showing a separation station with a vertically movable slide door and parts thereof, where a) is an isometric perspective view seen from above. 【Figure 2b】 Various views showing a separation station with a vertically movable slide door and parts thereof, where b) is a vertical cross-sectional view including a slide door closing an upper collection device row shown without an adsorbent cassette. 【Figure 2c】 Various views showing a separation station with a vertically movable slide door and parts thereof, where c) is a vertical cross-sectional view including a slide door closing an upper collection device row shown together with an adsorbent cassette. 【Figure 2d】 Various views showing a separation station with a vertically movable slide door and parts thereof, where d) is a detailed cross-sectional view showing a supply part of an adsorbent cavity. 【Figure 2e】 Various views showing a separation station with a vertically movable slide door and parts thereof, where e) is a side view including a slide door closing an upper collection device row. 【Figure 3a】 Various views showing a separation station with a horizontally movable slide door and parts thereof, where a) is an isometric perspective view seen from above. 【Figure 3b】Various views showing a separation station equipped with a horizontally movable sliding door and parts thereof. b) is a vertical cross-sectional view including a sliding door that closes the rightmost collection device section on the left side of the back wall shown without an adsorbent cassette. 【Figure 3c】 Various views showing a separation station equipped with a horizontally movable sliding door and parts thereof. c) is a vertical cross-sectional view similar to b) shown together with an adsorbent cassette. 【Figure 3d】 Various views showing a separation station equipped with a horizontally movable sliding door and parts thereof. d) is a side view including a sliding door that closes the leftmost collection device section. 【Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention】 【0095】 FIG. 1 schematically shows a separation station 1. 【0096】 The separation station 1 includes four identical collection device walls 2 arranged vertically in a modular manner. These collection device walls are connected and supported at their edges by vertical members 3 that function as stand columns for the separation station 1. The vertical member 3 has a protrusion 4 by which the collection device wall 2, more specifically the lower horizontal edge 38 of the collection device wall, is spaced from the ground, forming a through-flow region 6 below the collection device wall and a free space 5 below the upper part of the separation station 1. Diagonal braces 7 can be provided to stabilize the overall structure. 【0097】 In this case, the free space 5 below the upper part of the separation station 1, that is, below the lower horizontal edge of the collection device wall 2, is open for the inflow of air. However, in order to optimize the air flow through the collection device wall 2, typically this free space 5 is covered by a continuous sealing wall, or the upper part of the separation station 1 may be covered by a continuous horizontal sealing wall substantially at the level of the lower horizontal edge 38 of the collection device wall 2. It is also possible to have a further collection device wall 2 containing an adsorbent that closes the separation station cavity 21 against the bottom. 【0098】 Pipes and / or supply lines and / or control lines can be arranged within these vertical members 3, and in particular, the upper part of the vertical member 3 can be provided as a grid structure 8. 【0099】 The collection device wall 2 surrounds a single common separation station cavity 21, and the upper part of this cavity is covered by a cover unit 9 provided with an array of fans 10. Further, this cover unit 9 has a support structure 11, a baffle plate 12, and a cover plate 13, and the fans 10 are mounted within the cover plate. Correspondingly, the cover unit 9 substantially seals the common separation station cavity 21 against the top. 【0100】 The upper wall 15 of each collection device wall abuts against the cover unit 9, and the side wall 16 is adjacent to the vertical member 3. Typically, the side wall has a width corresponding to the width of the vertical member. 【0101】 The common separation station cavity can be closed and sealed against the bottom by a bottom cover plate (not shown), substantially at the height of the lower horizontal edge 38 of the wall 2. 【0102】 Each trapping device wall 2 is provided with a two-dimensional array of 16 square or rectangular separation units 34. Each separation unit 34 has an upstream opening 35 facing the outside of the separation station and a downstream opening 36 facing the separation station cavity 21. The separation units 34 are arranged in a regular array forming the trapping device columns 17. Specifically, after the uppermost trapping device column 17', the upper trapping device column 17'' follows adjacent in the downward direction, and further the lower trapping device column 17''' follows adjacent in the downward direction, and is finally terminated by the lowermost trapping device column 17'''' adjacent thereto and reaches the bottom. 【0103】 In the vertical direction, these separation units form the trapping device columns 23. Specifically (also referring to FIG. 2), they form the leftmost trapping device section 23', the left trapping device column 23'' adjacent and following on its right, the right trapping device column 23''' adjacent and following further on its right, and the rightmost trapping device column 23'''' terminating the array. 【0104】 The air flow within such a separation station 1 is typically structured as shown in FIG. 1d), i.e., the fan 10 draws air from the separation station cavity 21 such that the air is discharged in the vertical direction indicated by the arrow 20, whereby the air is sucked into the separation station cavity 21 in the horizontal direction indicated by the arrow 19. 【0105】 On the upstream side, the trapping device wall and / or the separation units may have a set of louvers 18 that are adjustable to control the direction of the air flow. 【0106】 More specifically, a further example of a separation station is shown in FIG. 2. The reference numerals in this series of drawings indicate the same or equivalent elements as those already described in the context of FIG. 1. In this embodiment, a single common sliding door 22 extending horizontally is provided, which simultaneously covers one row of separation units 34 in one of the separation walls 2. Corresponding vertical sliding doors 22 on the outer surface and vertical sliding doors 22' on the inner surface are provided, and these sliding doors move in parallel synchronously with each other at the same height according to the carbon dioxide recovery cycle. 【0107】 In the view of FIG. 2a), the sliding door on the left front collection device wall is in the lowermost position, that is, it covers the lowermost collection device row 17'''', so this collection device row, or rather the collection device units of this collection device row, undergo the above-described steps (b) to (e). 【0108】 The collection device units in the other rows of the collection device wall 2 are performing adsorption by the above-described step (a). 【0109】 As shown in FIG. 2b), each collection device unit has a circumferential wall set surrounding the adsorbent cavity 24. As can be seen on the right side of this figure, the sliding door has a curved convex molding material to enable an increase in the available vacuum without involving a large thermal mass of the sliding door structure. 【0110】 As shown in FIG. 2c), adsorbent cassettes are arranged in these cavities 24, and these adsorbent cassettes are provided as separate self-supporting structures or sets of separate self-supporting structures that can be inserted into these cavities 24 for maintenance. 【0111】 The adsorbent cassette 25 may, for example, have individual layers parallel in the horizontal or vertical direction coated with a material that reversibly adsorbs carbon dioxide, or may have a particulate material within a corresponding air-permeable container for adsorbing carbon dioxide. Materials suitable and adapted for this purpose are, in particular, primary and / or secondary amine-supported polymer beads that can be included in a corresponding mesh structure. 【0112】 In this example, also referring to FIG. 2d), the separation units 34 adjacent in the horizontal direction are directly adjacent, and the adjacent peripheral wall elements are formed by a single wall 31. 【0113】 On the other hand, the rows 17 of separation units adjacent in the vertical direction are arranged at a distance leaving a space 37 between the rows 17, and within this space 37 between the lower horizontal separation wall 29 of the upper adsorbent cavity and the upper horizontal separation wall 30 of the lower adsorbent cavity, there is space for the horizontal piping 26 for the individual separation units, and for the control of the individual separation units and / or the corresponding slide doors. In this way, this piping 26 can be ideally connected to the piping 14 within the vertical member. The piping 26 is connected to the corresponding separation unit 34 by an inlet / outlet 27 and a corresponding controllable valve 28. 【0114】 As can be taken from FIG. 2e), the slide door 22 is attached to a rail 32 extending in the vertical direction, and this rail can be attached to the vertical member 3 or to the lateral edge of the collection device wall 2. 【0115】 The corresponding motors or more generally drive means and corresponding control means for the slide doors 22 and 22' can also be arranged on the lateral edge of the collection device wall or within or on the vertical member 3. 【0116】 A third example of a corresponding separation station is shown in FIG. 3. The reference signs in this series of drawings also indicate the same or equivalent elements as those already described in the context of FIGS. 1 and 2. In this case, there is no horizontally extending joined common slide door 22, but there is a vertical array of slide doors 33. Also in this case, a common horizontally movable slide door 33 on the outer surface and a horizontally movable slide door 33'' on the inner surface are provided, and these slide doors move synchronously in the cycle. Also in this case, these slide doors can be provided as a single rigid structure to simplify the corresponding rail structure, which in this case is provided as a pair of rails 32 horizontally arranged on each upper edge and each lower edge of each collection device wall 2. However, these slide doors can also be configured as individual doors, in which case four pairs of horizontally arranged rails are required. 【Explanation of Signs】 【0117】 1 Separation station 2 Collection device wall 3 Vertical member 4 Protrusion of 3 5 Free space below the upper part of 1 6 Flow-through area between 4 7 Crossbar 8 Upper part of 3, lattice structure 9 Cover unit with fan 10 Fan 11 Support structure of 9 12 Baffle plate of 9 13 Cover plate of 9 14 Pipes / supply lines / control lines in 3 15 Upper wall of 2 16 Side wall of 2 17 Collection device row 17’ Top collection device row 17’’ Upper collection device row 17’’’ Lower collection device row 17’’’’ Bottom collection device row 18 louvers 19 substantially horizontal inflow air 20 substantially vertical outflow air 21 separation station cavity, sealed space of the separation unit 22 vertically movable slide door on the outer surface 22’ vertically movable slide door on the inner surface 23 collection device column 23’ the leftmost collection device column or section of the uppermost collection device row 23’’ the collection device column or section on the left side of the uppermost collection device row 23’’’ the collection device column or section on the right side of the uppermost collection device row 23’’’’ the rightmost collection device column or section of the uppermost collection device row 24 adsorbent cavity 25 adsorbent cassette in the separation unit 26 horizontal piping 27 inlet / outlet of 26 28 valve 29 lower horizontal separation wall of the upper adsorbent cavity 30 upper horizontal separation wall of the lower adsorbent cavity 31 vertical separation wall between adsorbent sections 32 rail for the slide door 33 horizontally movable slide door on the outer surface 33’ horizontally movable slide door on the inner surface 34 collection device section, separation unit 35 upstream opening of 34 36 downstream opening of 34 37 space between rows 38 lower horizontal edge of the collection device wall

Claims

[Claim 1] A separation station (1) comprising a plurality of stationary separation units (34) for separating at least one gaseous component from a gas mixture containing the gaseous component, particularly for separating carbon dioxide and / or water vapor from ambient air, Each separation unit (34) has at least one continuous sealing circumferential wall that surrounds at least one cavity (24) in the circumferential direction, The at least one continuous sealing peripheral wall defines an upstream opening (35) and a downstream opening (36) on the opposite side. The cavity (24) preferably includes at least one gas adsorption structure (25) for adsorbing the at least one gaseous component under ambient pressure and / or ambient temperature conditions. The multiple separation units (34) are arranged in at least one substantially vertical collection device wall structure (2) that laterally surrounds a single common separation station cavity (21), The separation station cavity (21) is covered and closed on the upper side by at least one cover unit (1) equipped with at least one air propulsion device (10). Preferably, the separation station (1) has the following structure, namely, The aforementioned vertical collection device wall structure takes the shape of a vertically oriented polygonal prism having at least three separate, substantially flat collection device walls (2). Each collection device wall (2) has at least four separation units (34) arranged in a regular array of vertical columns (23) and horizontal rows (17), The separation unit (34) of each collection device wall (2) preferably further has at least one pair of opposing sliding doors (22, 22', 33, 33') for sealing the upstream opening (35) and the downstream opening (36) of at least one cavity (24), and each pair of opposing sliding doors (22, 22', 33, 33') is shifted in a direction substantially parallel to the plane of each sliding door (22, 22', 33, 33') to open the upstream opening (35) and the downstream opening (36), respectively, in order to open the closed cavity (24), thereby allowing the gas mixture to flow through the cavity (24). Separation station (1). [Claim 2] The separation station (1) according to claim 1, wherein the vertical collection device wall structure (2) takes the shape of a vertically oriented cylinder or elliptical column, or preferably has a shape of a vertically oriented regular polygonal prism comprising three to eight substantially flat collection device walls (2). [Claim 3] The vertical collection device wall structure has a vertically oriented, preferably regular polygonal prism shape, having substantially flat 3 to 8, preferably 4 to 6, collection device walls (2), and vertical members (3) that function as supports for the separation station (1) are provided on adjacent vertical edges of the collection device walls (2) and / or between the vertical edges. Preferably, the vertical member (3) protrudes downward beyond the lower horizontal edge (38) of the collection device wall (2), thereby creating a free space (5) below the vertical collection device wall (2) toward the ground. and / or preferably supply piping and / or control wires for the separation unit (34) and / or control wires for a control door for opening and / or closing the separation unit (34), if present, are located at least partially inside or adjacent to the vertical member (3). The separation station (1) according to claim 1 or 2. [Claim 4] The separation station (1) has 4 to 8 or 4 to 6 substantially flat, separated horizontal collection device walls (2), each collection device wall (2) has at least 4, preferably at least 8, preferably 8 to 25 or 10 to 20 separation units (34) arranged in a regular array of vertical columns (23) and horizontal rows (17), Preferably adjacent vertical perimeter wall portions of adjacent separation units (34) along the horizontal row (17) are formed as a common joining wall, and a space (37) exists between adjacent separation units in the horizontal row (17) between the horizontal perimeter wall portions of adjacent separation units (34), and within this space are located supply piping and / or control wires for the separation unit (34) and / or control wires for control doors for opening and / or closing the separation unit (34), if present. Or, The adjacent horizontal peripheral wall portions of adjacent separation units (34) along the vertical column (23) are formed as a common joining wall, and a space exists between the adjacent separation units between the vertical column (23) and the vertical peripheral wall portions of adjacent separation units (34), and within this space are located supply piping and / or control wires for the separation unit (34) and / or control wires for a control door for opening and / or closing the separation unit (34), if present. The separation station (1) according to claim 1 or 2. [Claim 5] The cover unit (1) preferably has a plurality of air propulsion devices in the form of fans (10), and preferably the air propulsion devices are arranged in an array, preferably at least 3 x 3 air propulsion devices, preferably at least 4 x 4, 5 x 5, or 6 x 6 air propulsion devices. Each propulsion device is fluidly connected to the common separation station cavity (21) so as to allow flow between the opening (36) facing the common separation station cavity (21) of all separation units (34) and the air propulsion device. The separation station (1) according to claim 1 or 2. [Claim 6] The separation station (1) comprises a control unit that enables the plurality of air propulsion devices (10) to be controlled synchronously, in particular to be started and / or stopped simultaneously, and preferably the separation station (1) comprises at least one or a group of frequency converters for the control unit to jointly control the air propulsion devices (10), according to claim 5. [Claim 7] The separation station (1) has four to six substantially flat, separated horizontal collection device walls (2), Each collection device wall (2) has at least four, preferably at least eight, preferably eight to 25 or 10 to 20, separation units (34) arranged in a regular array of vertical columns (23) and horizontal rows (17). Each collection device wall (2) of the separation unit (34) further has at least one pair of opposing sliding doors (22, 22', 33, 33') for sealing the upstream opening (35) and the downstream opening (36) of at least one cavity (24), Each pair of opposing sliding doors (22, 22', 33, 33') is shifted substantially parallel to the plane of each sliding door (22, 22', 33, 33') to open the upstream opening (35) and the downstream opening (36) respectively in order to open the closed cavity (24), thereby allowing the gas mixture to flow through the cavity (24). The separation station (1) according to claim 1 or 2. [Claim 8] Each collection device wall (2) has only one common pair of the sliding door array, and the only common pair of the sliding door array is A pair of horizontal sliding door rows (22, 22') are arranged to open and close the row of separation units (34) and to shift vertically between the suction cycle and the detachment cycle, Preferably, adjacent vertical peripheral wall portions of separation units (34) along the horizontal row (17) are formed as a common joining wall. and / or, Preferably, between adjacent separation units in the horizontal rows (17), there exists a space (37) between the horizontal peripheral wall portions of adjacent separation units (34), and within this space, supply piping and / or control wires for the separation units (34) are located. Alternatively, one common pair of the array of sliding doors may be in the form of a pair of vertical sliding door columns (22, 22') that are shifted horizontally between the adsorption cycle and the desorption cycle to open and close the row of separation units (34), Preferably adjacent horizontal peripheral wall portions of separation units (34) along the vertical column (23) are formed as a common joining wall. and / or, preferably, between adjacent separation units between the vertical columns (23), there exists a space between the vertical peripheral wall portions of adjacent separation units (34), and within this space, supply piping and / or control wires for the separation units (34) are located. The separation station (1) according to claim 7. [Claim 9] At least one, preferably all, of the cavities (24) of the separation unit (34) has at least one adsorbent cassette (25), the adsorbent cassette can be removed from and / or inserted into each cavity (24) as a self-supporting unit. Preferably, the adsorbent cassette has an adsorbent cavity provided by at least one adsorbent monolith, adsorbent sheet, adsorbent coating, honeycomb, or mesh or grid structure, wherein the width of the mesh is smaller than the minimum particle size of particulate adsorbent particles, preferably the mesh is a wire grid, preferably a metal wire grid or polymer wire grid, most preferably an aluminum wire grid or stainless steel metal wire grid. More preferably, the particulate adsorbent particles in such sheets, coatings, or adsorbent cavities are polymer-based particles or inorganic particles having amine functional groups suitable and adapted for carbon dioxide recovery, and / or at least partially inorganic, organic, or activated carbon-based particles, preferably functionalized with alkali carbonate or amine functionalities, suitable and adapted for carbon dioxide recovery and / or metal-organic structures. and / or, the particulate adsorbent particles in such a sheet, coating or adsorbent cavity have a particle size in the range of 0.01 to 5 mm or 0.5 to 2 mm, have substantially abrasive flow properties, and the carrier structure is preferably selected from the group consisting of polymers, ceramics, organic solids, zeolites, metals, clays, capsules or hybrids thereof. The separation station (1) according to claim 1 or 2. [Claim 10] The separation station cavity (21) is closed on its lower side facing the ground by at least one bottom cover unit. Preferably, the bottom cover unit (1) has one or more air propulsion devices, preferably in the form of fans, and preferably the air propulsion devices are arranged in an array, preferably at least 3 x 3 air propulsion devices, preferably at least 4 x 4, 5 x 5, or 6 x 6 air propulsion devices. Each propulsion device is fluidly connected to the common separation station cavity (21) so as to allow flow between the opening (36) facing the common separation station cavity (21) of all separation units (34) and the air propulsion device. and / or, the separation station (1) includes a control unit that enables the control of the plurality of air propulsion devices in the bottom cover unit to be synchronized with each other in the bottom cover unit and / or with each other in the cover unit (9), in particular to be started and / or stopped simultaneously, and preferably, the separation station (1) has for the control unit at least one or a group of frequency converters for jointly controlling the air propulsion devices (10) in the bottom cover unit and / or cover unit (9). The separation station (1) according to claim 1 or 2. [Claim 11] The separation station (1) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the separation station is attached to or has at least one or more common exhaust units and / or one or more common heating and / or steam supply units and / or one or more common collection units for gaseous components and / or one or more sets of louvers upstream, and in each case is common to all cavities (24) or common to all cavities in one vertical collection device wall structure (2). [Claim 12] The vertical collection device wall structure has a vertically oriented, preferably regular polygonal prism shape, having substantially flat 3 to 8, preferably 4 to 6, collection device walls (2), and vertical members (3) that function as supports for the separation station (1) are provided on adjacent vertical edges of the collection device walls (2) and / or between the vertical edges. The vertical member (3) protrudes downward beyond the lower horizontal edge (38) of the collection device wall (2), thereby creating a free space (5) below the vertical collection device wall (2) toward the ground, and between the vertical member, the lower horizontal edge (38) of the collection device wall (2), and the ground where the separation station (1) is located, there exists a continuous sealing wall that prevents outside air from flowing from below the vertical collection device wall (2) into the single common separation station cavity (21). Alternatively, the lower horizontal edge (38) of the collection device wall (2) is substantially aligned with the ground on which the separation station (1) is located, preventing outside air from flowing into the single common separation station cavity (21) from below the vertical collection device wall (2). The separation station (1) according to claim 1 or 2. [Claim 13] A method for operating a separation station (1) according to claim 1 or 2, comprising at least one array of separation units (34) for separating gaseous carbon dioxide from a gas mixture containing the gaseous carbon dioxide and further gases different from gaseous carbon dioxide, preferably from at least one of ambient air, flue gas, and biogas, by periodic adsorption / desorption using an adsorbent of a gas adsorption structure (25) that adsorbs the gaseous carbon dioxide in the separation unit (34), The above method comprises at least the following steps (a) to (e), which are repeated continuously and in the following order: (a) In the adsorption step, a step of bringing the gas mixture into contact with the adsorbent so that at least the gaseous carbon dioxide can be adsorbed onto the adsorbent by flow-through through the separation unit (34) under substantially ambient atmospheric pressure and ambient air temperature conditions; (b) A step of isolating the adsorbent containing carbon dioxide adsorbed in the separation unit (34) from the flow-through; (c) A step of raising the temperature of the adsorbent to preferably 60 to 110°C and starting the desorption of CO2; (d) Extracting the gaseous carbon dioxide desorbed from at least the separation unit (34) and separating the gaseous carbon dioxide inside or downstream of the separation unit (34); (e) Bringing the adsorbent to substantially ambient atmospheric temperature and ambient atmospheric pressure conditions; It has, At least one or more of the air propulsion devices (10) in the cover unit (1) are operated to draw in air from the common isolation station cavity (21) throughout the entire cycle, and in such cases, at least one or more of the air propulsion devices in the bottom cover unit are operated to draw in and / or push air into the common isolation station cavity (21), A method preferably in the separation station (1), in an array of separation units (34), in which the steps, which are repeated continuously and in the order described above, are carried out synchronously such that at least half of the separation units (34), preferably at least three-quarters of the separation units (34), and more preferably at least three-quarters or four-fifths of the separation units (34) are in the adsorption step, and the remaining separation units (34) are used for other steps. [Claim 14] The pair of sliding doors (22, 22', 33, 33') are positioned to seal one cavity (24) of the array for steps (b) to (e), while the other cavity is opened to the flow-through of the gas mixture in step (a), and the sealed cavity is exposed to conditions for desorption and extraction of the gaseous components, while the other cavity is propelled by the propulsion device to adsorb at least one gaseous component from the gas mixture, and once desorption in the sealed cavity is complete, the pair of sliding doors (22, 22', 33, 33') are shifted to the next cavity or array of cavities, preferably to the cavity in the array that has been exposed to gas mixture adsorption for the longest time span. The method of operating the separation station according to claim 7, comprising: sealing the next cavity or array of cavities; then exposing the next cavity or array of cavities to the conditions of steps (b) to (e) for desorption and extraction of the gaseous components, during which the other cavities are facilitated by a gas or air propulsion device to adsorb at least one gaseous component from the gas mixture in step (a); preferably, the sequence of steps is similarly continued to sequentially seal and extract all of the cavities in the array; and the sequence of adsorption and desorption steps is periodically repeated at least once, preferably at least 100 times, or at least 1000 times, for a number of times equal to the number of cavities in the array. [Claim 15] Use of the separation station (1) according to claim 1 or 2 for separating carbon dioxide and / or water vapor from ambient air. [Claim 16] Use of the method according to claim 13 for separating carbon dioxide and / or water vapor from ambient air.

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