Lumped heat and mass transfer coefficient for simulation of a pressure swing adsorption process.

The practical implications of replacing various individual transport resistances such as gas-solid mass and heat transfer, and gas phase axial dispersions of mass and heat in a numerical model of a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process by a single, empirical, lumped, effective mass transport coefficient were evaluated. A non-isothermal, adiabatic, four-step Skarstrom-like PSA process for production of pure helium from a binary helium-nitrogen mixture using 5A zeolite adsorbent was considered. It was found that the above-described model simplification was adequate to describe key process performances such as the bed size factor and the product recovery vis-a-vis a detailed model where the effects of all individual resistances were explicitly included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]