Gas separation can refer to any of a number of techniques used to separate gases, either to give multiple products or to purify a single product.
Swing adsorption techniques
Pressure swing adsorption
Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) pressurizes and depressurizes gas around an adsorbent media to selectively adsorb certain components of a gas, allowing others to be selectively discarded.
Vacuum swing adsorption
Vacuum swing adsorption (VSA) uses the same principle as PSA but swings between vacuum pressures and atmospheric pressure. The two techniques may be combined and are called "vacuum pressure swing adsorption" (VPSA) in this case.
Temperature swing adsorption
Temperature swing adsorption (TSA) uses a similar technique to other swing adsorption techniques but cycles temperature instead of pressure.
Cryogenic distillation
Cryogenic distillation is typically only used for very high volumes because of its nonlinear cost-scale relationship, which makes the process more economical at larger scales. Because of this it is typically only used for air separation.
See also
- Oxygen concentrator – Device that removes nitrogen from air
- Nitrogen generator
- Industrial gas – Gaseous materials produced for use in industry
- Air separation – Chemical process
- Natural-gas processing – Industrial processes designed to purify raw natural gas
- Solid sorbents for carbon capture – Solid materials that can adsorb carbon dioxide from air.