Aerzen Air Separation Case Study

Aerzen USA’s customer (plant operator) has a contract to operate an air separation plant supplying oxygen to a glass furnace at a lighting products company. The glass furnace’s oxygen-enhanced combustion technology improves furnace performance by displacing combustion air with oxygen. By reducing or eliminating the introduction of inert nitrogen into the furnace, the oxygen enhanced combustion technology increases production, decreases fuel consumption, and reduce emissions, while maintaining or even increasing product quality.

Large positive displacement blowers are used in the air separation plant. There is a feed (pressure) blower and a vacuum blower used in a process known as Vacuum Swing Adsorption (VSA). This process that induces rapid pressure swings on the blower as the process cycles from high pressure to low pressure. These pressure swings create very demanding operating conditions on the blowers.