6. Determining the total number of adsorbers

The choice of adsorption cycle to be used depends heavily on the geographical, industrial and economic environment in which it is to be integrated (distance/accessibility, integration pressures, flow rate and composition of the gas to be purified and produced, price of carbon steels and energy, etc.) and on the customer's economic objectives with regard to the ratio between initial investment cost and future operating costs (what are his requirements in terms of recovery rate, reliability, flexibility of use – minimum operation at 30% or 50% of nominal flow rate, etc.).

So, generally speaking, as in many other process engineering applications, the more operating costs need to be minimized, the greater the initial investment required.

For a PSA, VSA or VPSA, this investment depends all the more on the number and volume of adsorbers to be...