Effects of pressure drop in a PSA process

The effects of pressure drop on the dynamics of fixed-beds were theoretically studied. The system used was an H₂/CO mixture (70 vol% H₂, 30 vol% CO) in zeolite 5A. The pressure drop at the pressurization step affected the breakthrough time at an adsorption step in the PSA process. As a result, the combined effects of pressure drop during adsorption and pressurization steps led to earlier breakthrough compared to the case without a pressure drop. The effect of pressure drop at the adsorption step under the non-isothermal condition was slightly larger than that under the adiabatic condition. In the case of pressurization and blowdown steps with large pressure drop, the flow pattern near the open end during a short period of time had to be explained by the Ergun equation instead of Darcy's law. However, there was only a slight difference in the results of a multi-bed PSA process depending on whether or not the pressure drops at the pressurization/depressurization steps as well as at the adsorption step were considered.