Influence Factors of Pressure Swing Adsorption for Oxygen Production by the Orthogonal Method and the Response Surface Method

Abstract

Adsorption pressure is one of the important factors affecting oxygen production in the process of pressure swing adsorption oxygen production. Three important factors, namely, the adsorption period, pressure equalisation time, and outlet flow rate, determine the variation in the adsorption pressure. In this study, the effects of the adsorption period, pressure equalisation time, and outlet flow rate on oxygen concentration were investigated through orthogonal experiments and response surface analysis. The experiments verified that three factors including the adsorption period, pressure equalisation time, and outlet flow rate have optimal values in the oxygen production process. Response surface analysis showed that the adsorption period had the greatest effect on the oxygen concentration, followed by the equalisation time, and the outlet flow rate had the least effect. The optimum process conditions are an adsorption time of 7.88 s, a pressure equalisation time of 0.9 s, an outlet flow rate of 2.31 L/min, and an oxygen concentration of 96.7%.