Recovering ethylene from off-gas of ethylene oxide plant by pressure swing adsorption

In order to recover ethylene from off-gas of the ethylene oxide plant efficiently, a method of pressure swing adsorption (PSA) was used. Adsorption equilibria of ethylene, ethane and other relevant gases on the activated carbon and the adsorbent (NJ) proposed which was loaded with cuprous cation were studied, respectively. The PAS performances of C₂H₄ and C₂H₆ mixture and the off-gas from the ethylene oxide plant as well as the effects of O₂, CH₄ and CO₂ on the C₂H₄ adsorption were investigated. Experimental results show that the adsorbent NJ has a high adsorption selectivity of C₂H₄, and has much higher capacity of C₂H₄ than that of C₂H₆. The proposed adsorbent NJ also shows very stable characteristics for PSA performance.