Process for remote lox/lin production by hpair turbo expansion

Abstract

A process for cryogenic air separation and liquefaction, including purifying and compressing an inlet air stream, thereby producing a compressed inlet air stream, dividing the compressed inlet air stream into an ASU portion and a liquefaction portion, introducing the ASU portion into an air separation unit, thereby producing a gaseous oxygen steam and a gaseous nitrogen stream, and introducing the liquefaction portion, the gaseous oxygen steam and the gaseous nitrogen stream into a liquefaction unit, thereby producing a liquid nitrogen stream and a liquid oxygen stream. Wherein, the air separation unit is located more than 200 meters from the liquefaction unit, and there is no compression driven by external energy within 200 meters of the liquefaction unit.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A process for cryogenic air separation and liquefaction, comprising:
 purifying and compressing an inlet air stream, thereby producing a compressed inlet air stream,   dividing the compressed inlet air stream into an ASU portion and a liquefaction portion,   introducing the ASU portion into an air separation unit, thereby producing a gaseous oxygen steam and/or a gaseous nitrogen stream, and introducing the liquefaction portion, the gaseous oxygen stream and the gaseous nitrogen stream into a liquefaction unit, wherein the liquefaction portion is turbo expanded to produce the refrigeration to produce the refrigeration to liquefy the gaseous oxygen and gaseous nitrogen [thereby producing a liquid nitrogen stream and/or a liquid oxygen stream,   
       wherein the air separation unit is located more than 200 meters from the liquefaction unit, and 
       wherein there is no compression driven by external energy within 200 meters of the liquefaction unit which is applied to liquefaction. 
     
     
         2 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein no additional refrigeration energy is within 200 meters of the liquefaction unit. 
     
     
         3 . The process of  claim 2 , wherein the additional refrigeration energy is derived from electrical, steam, and/or hydrocarbon containing gas turbine compressor drives. 
     
     
         4 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the liquefaction portion is between 30 bara and 100 bara. 
     
     
         5 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the turboexpanded liquefaction air stream is less than 3 bara. 
     
     
         6 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the liquefaction expander produces power, and wherein at least a portion of the liquefaction expander power is used to drive an air booster, a gaseous oxygen stream compressor, and/or a gaseous nitrogen stream compressor. 
     
     
         7 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the liquefaction expander produces power, and wherein the liquefaction expander produces power, and wherein at least a portion of the liquefaction expander power is used to produce electricity in an electrical generator. 
     
     
         8 . The process of  claim 7 , wherein the electrical generator is located within 100 meters of the liquefaction unit. 
     
     
         9 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the ASU portion has a first flowrate, the liquefaction portion has a second flowrate, and the ratio of the first flowrate to the second flowrate is between 1.0 and 2.0. 
     
     
         10 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the liquid nitrogen stream has a third flowrate, the liquid oxygen stream has a fourth flowrate, the combined third flowrate and fourth flowrate produces a fifth flowrate, and wherein the ratio of the second flowrate to the fifth flowrate is between 2.0 and 4.0. 
     
     
         11 . The process of  claim 1 , further comprising introducing a natural gas stream into the liquefaction unit, thereby producing a liquefied natural gas stream. 
     
     
         12 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the pressure of the liquefaction portion to the pressure of the ASU portion is between 1.3 and 2.3. 
     
     
         13 . The process of  claim 1  further comprising a recycle air compressor, wherein at least a portion of the turboexpanded air in the liquefaction unit is re-compressed and mixed with the liquefaction portion to be turboexpanded, wherein the recycle air compressor is located <100 m from liquefaction unit.