AIR SEPARATION CHARACTERISTICS OF ANTIGRANULOCYTES MOLECULAR-SIEVING CARBON PRODUCED FROM PVA PHENOLIC RESIN

The object of this study is to examine the feasibility of producing granular molecular sieving carbon (MSC) from polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/phenolic resin and the possibility of its practical use for air separation by a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) method. In the present work, laboratory-scale air separation experiments with a PSA apparatus were carried out. As the basic property of MSC, the diffusivity ratio of oxygen and nitrogen was estimated from experimental data of adsorption equilibrium and adsorption rate in a single-component system. From these experiments, the following results were obtained. 1) The fraction of nitrogen in product gas obtained in PSA air separation using granular MSC was more than 99.99%, and the possibility of industrial use of this MSC is strongly suggested. 2) In PSA air separation, the purification of nitrogen was promoted by choosing the most suitable length for pressure equalization and adsorption, and by enlarging the PSA apparatus. 3) Since no significant difference in amount of oxygen and nitrogen adsorbed at equilibrium was found, the separation properties of the granular MSC in this work is suggested to be due to the difference in diffusion rate between oxygen and nitrogen.