Operation of the DP-PSA system

The two pistons allow the independent control of the pressure and flow velocity profile in the DP-PSA system. This can be used to test a wide range of pressure swing configurations. The images show an example with:

  • Piston 1 starting the cycle at the minimum stroke and moving towards the column
  • Piston 2 starts halfway between minimum and maximum stroke and moving away from the column
  • The stroke length of piston 1 is 1.5 times that of piston 2

The pressure and velocity profile show the operation of a binary separation:

  • At high pressure the flow is mainly negative
  • The heavy component adsorbs while the light component moves in the negative direction
  • At low pressure the flow is mainly positive
  • Both components move in the positive direction
  • Resulting in the separation of the two components

The simulation was performed with the in-house general adsorption cycle simulator CySim.

Plot showing the position and direction of both pistons at four points during one cycle.
Plot showing the position and direction of both pistons at four points during one cycle.
Pressure and flow velocity profiles corresponding to the cycle shown above.
Pressure and flow velocity profiles corresponding to the cycle shown above.
Simulation of a test case starting with a uniform CO2/N2 mixture and inducing a concentration gradient along the column length.
Simulation of a test case starting with a uniform CO2/N2 mixture and inducing a concentration gradient along the column length.