Energy saving and consumption reduction of air separation unit

The reflux liquid in the upper column of the distillation column is throttled by the lower column to the liquid air and liquid nitrogen of the upper column, and the reflux ratio of the upper column is regulated by the liquid nitrogen throttle valve. When the liquid air and liquid nitrogen pass through the throttle valve, the pressure will decrease, and the corresponding saturation temperature will also be reduced. If the supercooling degree of liquid is not enough, some liquid will be vaporized. The higher the gasification rate is, the lower the reflux ratio of the upper column is, and the purity of nitrogen is affected. Therefore, in order to improve the supercooling degree of the liquid nitrogen in the night sky through the throttle valve, a subcooler is generally set up to increase the supercooling degree of the liquid nitrogen in the liquid air.

The air is mainly composed of 78.03% nitrogen and 20.93% oxygen and other gases. Air separation is to cool the air to a certain low temperature firstly and liquefy it into liquid air. Reuse two liquids oxygen and nitrogen with different boiling points (At atmospheric pressure, the boiling point of oxygen is - 183.98°C and that of nitrogen is - 195.8°C), separation is carried out in an air fractionator equipped with sieve plates. The air separation column is also called distillation column. Air distillation column can be divided into single-stage distillation column and double-stage distillation column, and single-stage distillation column can only produce one kind of pure product. Two stage distillation column is used to produce high purity nitrogen and oxygen in common air separation unit.