| Carbon Monoxide Plants |  |
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| Operation | Key Features |
There is very high demand for the high purity carbon monoxide (CO) in
the chemical industry. It is the ideal material to produce polyurethane
or polycarbonate. There are a large variety of Carbon monoxide sources
available that includes the reforming gases from LPG, petroleum or coal
and also as a by-product gas that is obtained from iron works. This
plants utilize the sophisticated PSA process which separates and recover
CO gas from methanol. Plants with large capacity such as from
150-200Nm3/H is being successfully operated today. Opreation of the
plant is described here. Operation of a Carbon Monoxide Plant:
It starts as the material gas is first fed into the adsorption tower, then the usual process of PSA cycle follows:
- Adsorption
- Purging
- Desorption
- Repressurization
Figure below illustrates working of a 4-bed adsorption tower system, it must be noted that it is not compulsory to erect always four adsorption towers as when the CO's purity requirement is low, the system can be operated with lesser number of towers or stages in the process flow.
Key Features of a Carbon Monoxide Plant employing PSA Process:
- Recovery Rate of CO: Around 90%
- Purity Rate of CO: Around 99%
- Application: Small to medium scale