Pressure Swing Adsorption−Solvent Vapor Recovery:  Process Dynamics and Parametric Study

Abstract

A comprehensive study of the periodic state process dynamics and performance of a pressure swing adsorption (PSA)−solvent vapor recovery (SVR) process was carried out by computer simulation. An investigation of the process dynamics showed that temperature swings, velocity changes, and their effects were significant in these kinds of systems and must be accounted for in simulation studies. Also, the rigorous model showed that the frozen solid and gas phase assumption was valid during the pressurization step but not the blowdown step and that the temperature and concentration waves propagated together during the adsorption step. Nine parameters were investigated to ascertain their effects on the process performance. The trends from the parametric study showed that the process performance was affected significantly by all of these parameters and that the nonidealities included in the rigorous model, in most cases, had a marked effect on the process performance, beyond that which could be explained by an idealized, isothermal, equilibrium PSA model.