• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 2019

In order to solve the global warming and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, $CO_2$ capture technology was developed by applying oxy-fuel combustion. But there has been such a problem that its economic efficiency is low due to the high price of oxygen gases. ASU is known to be most suitable method to produce large quantity of oxygen, to reduce the oxygen production cost, the efficiency of ASU need to be improved. To improve the efficiency of ASU, exergy analysis can be used. The exergy analysis provides the information of used energy in the process, the location and size of exergy destruction. In this study, the exergy analysis was used for process developing and optimization of large scale ASU. The process simulation of ASU was conducted, the results were used to calculate the exergy. As a result, to reduce the exergy loss in the cold box of ASU, a lower operating pressure process was suggested. It was confirmed the importance of heat leak and heat loss reduction of cold box. Also, the unit process of ASU which requires thermal integration was confirmed.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.647-654
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• 2018

In order to solve the global warming and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it has been developed the $CO_2$ capture technology by oxy-fuel combustion. But there is a problem that the economic efficiency is low because the oxygen production cost is high. ASU (Air Separation Unit) is known to be most suitable method for producing large capacity of oxygen (>2,000 tpd). But most of them are optimized for high purity (>99.5%) oxygen production. If the ASU process is optimized for low purity(90~97%) oxygen producing, it is possible to reduce the production cost of oxygen by improving the process efficiency. In this study, the process analysis and comparative evaluation was conducted for developing large capacity ASU for oxy-fuel combustion. The process efficiency was evaluated by calculating the recovery rate and power consumption according to the oxygen purity using the AspenHysys. As a result, it confirmed that the optimal purity of oxygen for oxyfuel combustion is 95%, and the power consumption can be reduced by process optimization to 12~18%.

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Applied Superconductivity and Cryogenics Conference
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• 2001.02a
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• pp.132-135
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• 2001

Cryogenic air separation unit(ASU) was developed about 100 year ago in Europe. However, because there is not any ability of process design or manufacturing of ASU in Korea, many ASUs come from advanced countries every year. The purpose of this study is the development of cryogenic air separation unit by our own ability, especially cold box for nitrogen production. On this study, we developed the computer program for physical properties of gases and process simulation. We also did process design and manufactured of cold box, including air separation column, liquid air heat exchanger and condenser. The result of cold box test was successful.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.56-66
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• 2013

The gas production plants supply the inert gas to production plants for maintaining safe operation and also supply combustible, flammable, explosive and toxic gases as functions of basic materials needed for producing chemical goods. In addition, gas plants need to be safe and reliable operation because they are operated under high temperature, high pressure, cryogenic and catalytic reactions. As these plants have a complex process in operation, there has been a risk that major industrial accidents such as a fire, explosion and toxic gas released, also risks of asphyxiations by inert gases and burns caused by high temperature and cryogenic substances. This study is to carry out the semi quantitative risk assesment method which is the generic risk analysis (GRA). This method is applied to air separation unit(ASU) to identify its initial risk, safety barriers, residual risk and elements important for safety(EIS). The result of this study, suggested the management tools and procedures of implementation for EIS management.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.173-179
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• 2019

Cryogenic air separation unit produces various gases such as $N_2$, $O_2$, and Ar by liquefying air. The process also varies with diverse production conditions. The one for SNG production among them has lower efficiency compared to other air separation unit because it requires ultrapure $O_2$ with purity not lower than 99.5%. Among factors that reduce the efficiency of air separation unit, power consumption due to compress air and heat duty of double column were representatives. In this study, simulation of the air separation unit for SNG production was carry out by using ASEPN PLUS. In the results of the simulation, 18.21 kg/s of at least 99.5% pure $O_2$ was produced and 33.26 MW of power was consumed. To improve the energy efficiency of air separation unit for SNG production, the sensitivity analysis for power consumption, purities and flow rate of $N_2$, $O_2$ production in the air separation unit was performed by change of air boosting ratios. The simulated model has three types of air with different pressure levels and two air boosting ratio. The air boosting ratio means flow rate ratio of air by recompressing in the process. As increasing the first air boosting ratio, $N_2$ flow rate which has purity of 99.9 mol% over increase and $O_2$ flow rate and purity decrease. As increasing the second air boosting ratio, $N_2$ flow rate which has purity of 99.9 mol% over decreases and $O_2$ flow rate increases but the purity of $O_2$ decreases. In addition, power consumption of compressing to increase in the two cases but results of heat duty in double column were different. The heat duty in double column decreases as increasing the first air boosting ratio but increases as increasing the second air boosting ratio. According to the results of the sensitivity analysis, the optimum air boosting ratios were 0.48 and 0.50 respectively and after adjusting the air boosting ratios, power consumption decreased by approximately 7% from $0.51kWh/O_2kg$ to $0.47kWh/O_2kg$.