Rectangular Swing Adsorption Bed for Low Pressure Drop
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional swing adsorption processes face challenges in maintaining low pressure drop, ensuring good flow distribution, minimizing dispersion, and rapid cycling times due to limitations in adsorbent bed design, particularly with high volumetric flows, which restrict the size and efficiency of adsorbent bed units.
Innovation Solution
The design of a cyclical swing adsorbent bed unit with a rectangular prism configuration and oversized heads to accommodate larger valves and increased aspect ratios, allowing for improved flow paths and reduced dead volume, enabling efficient contaminant removal from gaseous feed streams.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional adsorbent bed units are used with high volumetric flows, then the processing capacity is improved, but the pressure drop increases and flow distribution deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from conventional vertical cylindrical adsorbent beds to horizontal rectangular prism configurations. This dimensional change allows for optimized flow paths that reduce pressure drop while maintaining high volumetric throughput. The horizontal orientation with optimized aspect ratios enables better flow distribution across the adsorbent bed cross-section.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs non-standard aspect ratios (length-to-width ratios) in the rectangular prism configuration to optimize flow patterns. By asymmetrically proportioning the dimensions, the design achieves superior flow distribution and reduces dead zones, thereby lowering pressure drop while maintaining high processing capacity.
2Productivity
If conventional adsorbent bed units are used with high volumetric flows, then the processing capacity is improved, but flow distribution and dispersion control deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The horizontal rectangular prism configuration provides optimized flow paths that improve flow distribution uniformity. The design allows for better control of fluid flow patterns across the adsorbent bed, reducing axial spreading and ensuring more uniform contact between feed stream and adsorbent material.
Solution Approach 2:
By using non-standard aspect ratios in the rectangular prism design, the patent achieves superior flow distribution. The asymmetric dimensional proportions are specifically optimized to control dispersion and ensure uniform flow patterns, thereby maintaining composition stability during high-rate processing.
3Productivity
If rapid cycling is implemented, then the productivity is improved, but the valve response time and dead volume requirements worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and minimizes dead volume from the adsorbent bed unit design by using a horizontal rectangular prism configuration with optimized dimensions. This reduces the volume of gas trapped in dead zones, thereby reducing the time required for pressure equalization and enabling faster cycling rates.
Solution Approach 2:
The horizontal orientation with optimized aspect ratios reduces dead volume compared to conventional vertical cylinders. This dimensional change allows for faster valve response and reduced dead volume effects, enabling rapid cycling while maintaining productivity.
4Productivity
If adsorbent bed units are sized for high volumetric flows, then the processing capacity is improved, but the equipment footprint and capital investment worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses non-standard aspect ratios in the rectangular prism configuration to optimize the equipment footprint. By asymmetrically proportioning the dimensions, the design achieves high volumetric throughput in a more compact horizontal footprint compared to conventional vertical cylinders of equivalent capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The horizontal rectangular prism configuration optimizes the space utilization. This dimensional change allows for high processing capacity in a reduced footprint, as the horizontal orientation with optimized aspect ratios provides better space efficiency compared to conventional vertical designs.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided are apparatus and systems for performing a swing adsorption process. This swing adsorption process may involve passing streams through adsorbent bed units to remove contaminants, such as water, from the stream. As part of the process, the adsorbent bed unit may include additional space for the valves of the adsorbent bed unit.