Gas Separation

Gas Separation 

separation of gas mixtures into their individual components (or fractions). Gas separation is usually preceded by the drying of gas mixtures and the removal from them of noxious impurities—for example, nitric oxides, which form dangerously explosive compounds with unsatu-rated hydrocarbons; catalytic toxins which prevent the chemical refining of gases; and hydrogen sulfide, water vapor, and several hydrocarbons, which cause corrosion of equipment or which congeal in the equipment at low temperatures.

The principal methods of gas separation are rectification of gases liquefied by deep cooling, absorption and adsorption, and fractional condensation.

Gas separation is widely used in the separation of air and gaseous hydrocarbons. New trends in gas separation technology include chromatography, extractive and azeotropic distillation, and the use of molecular screens and gas centrifuges.

REFERENCES

Fastovskii, V. G. Razdelenie gazovykh smesei. Moscow-Leningrad, 1947.
Sokolov, V. A. Novye Metody razdeleniia legkikh uglevodorodov. Moscow, 1961.
Razdelenie i analiz uglevodorodnykh gazov. Moscow, 1963. (Collection of articles.)
Müller, G., and G. Gnauk. Gazy vysokoi chistoty. Moscow, 1968. (Translated from German.)
Iukel’son, I. I. Tekhnologiia osnovnogo organicheskogo sinteza. Moscow, 1968.

IA. M. BRAINES