STTR Phase I: Production of Oxygen by Push/Pull Adsorption

这个小企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段项目是基于一个新的分离概念：推/拉吸附。目前可用的制氧技术是低温蒸馏和变压吸附，这两种技术都使用压力-体积功。对于这些技术中的任一种，用于工业规模生产的氧气通常成本为40美元/吨，其中大部分成本用于电能。因为推拉吸附用蒸汽代替电能，它具有低得多的能量和美元成本。推/拉吸附具有适合于小规模氧气生产的进一步优点。氧气成本的大幅度降低将对炼钢、玻璃制造和所有其他使用氧气的工业产生直接的好处。更便宜的氧气也将使通过费托过程从煤中生产汽油和其他燃料变得可行，结束美国对外国石油的依赖。

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is based on a novel separation concept: push/pull adsorption. The presently available technologies for producing oxygen are cryogenic distillation and pressure swing adsorption, both of which use pressure-volume work. With either of these technologies oxygen typically costs $40/ton for industrial scale production with most of this cost going for electrical energy. Because push/pull adsorption replaces electrical energy with steam, it has much lower energy and dollar costs. Push/pull adsorption has the further advantage of being suitable for small-scale oxygen production. A major reduction in the cost of oxygen will be of immediate benefit to steel making, glass manufacturing, and all the other industries in which oxygen is used. Cheaper oxygen would also make it practical to produce gasoline and other fuels from coal via the Fischer-Tropsch process, ending America's dependence on foreign oil.