The art of cryogenic capture of foulants from carrier gases is relatively young. The ability to capture foulants, like acid gases, is of great importance to environmentally sound industrial progress. However, existing capture technologies are extremely complex, requiring many unit operations to capture and purify acid gases, such as carbon dioxide. The ability to make a cryogenic capture process that minimizes unit operations, and therefore minimizes energy and financial costs, is required.
United States patent publication number 20120125043 by Cullinane teaches a cryogenic system for removing acid gases from a hydrocarbon gas stream. The system utilizes a cryogenic distillation tower to collect the acid gases as solids. The present disclosure differs from this disclosure in that this disclosure utilizes a distillation tower and associated heat exchangers, while the present disclosure does not require the complex distillation systems. This disclosure is pertinent and may benefit from the methods disclosed herein and is hereby incorporated for reference in its entirety for all that it teaches.
WIPO patent publication number 2003062725 by Amin et al. teaches a process and device for production of LNG by removal of freezable solids. The process involves freezing any freezable species out of the natural gas feed stream during pressurization to produce LNG using a vortex induced by stirring, allowing for separation of the solids from the LNG slurry. The present disclosure differs from this disclosure in that this disclosure focuses on preventing solids from sticking to the walls by stirring the slurry rapidly, not utilizing an auger to keep solids moving and prevent them from sticking to the wall. Further, the separation step requires additional solid-liquid separation equipment, while the present disclosure accomplishes both solids removal from the gas and solids separation from the liquid in one piece of equipment. This disclosure is pertinent and may benefit from the methods disclosed herein and is hereby incorporated for reference in its entirety for all that it teaches.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds