Oxygen production by PSA air separation was founded in the early 1960s (skarstrom, 1960; Guerin de montgarenil & Domine, 1964), and realized industrial production in the 1970s. Before that, most of the traditional industrial air separation units used cryogenic distillation method (referred to as cryogenic method).
Since the 1980s, the development and utilization of CAx and LIX zeolite with high adsorption and separation performance and the improvement of process flow have made the PSA air separation technology develop rapidly. Compared with the cryogenic air separation unit, PSA process has the advantages of short start-up time, convenient shutdown, low energy consumption, low operation cost, high degree of automation, simple maintenance, small floor area and low civil construction cost. In the medium and small scale oxygen production (less than 100 tons / day, equivalent to 3000 Nm3 / h) without high purity oxygen, it is more competitive than cryogenic process. It is widely used in electric furnace steelmaking, non-ferrous metal smelting, glass processing, methanol production, carbon black production, chemical fertilizer production, chemical oxidation process, pulp bleaching, sewage treatment, biological fermentation, aquaculture, medical treatment and military fields (Yang, 1991; Kumar,1996; Jee,Park,Haam&Lee,2002)。
In the past 40 years, the research progress of PSA air separation oxygen production technology is mainly manifested in two aspects: one is the research on adsorbents and adsorption theory of air separation oxygen production, and the other is the research on cycle process of air separation oxygen production process (sircar, 1994; Ruthven.Faroq&Knaebel,1994)。 Although the research on this technology started earlier in China, it develops relatively slowly in a long period of time. In the 1990s, the superiority of PSA oxygen production equipment was gradually recognized by Chinese people. In recent years, various process equipment have been put into operation, which has brought great economic benefits to all walks of life.