Oxygen is an odourless and colourless gas. The air comprises 21% of oxygen (O2) and it is essential for human respiration and drives metabolism for most living things. Oxygen is generally produced from an air separation unit (ASU) plant. One of the applications of oxygen is medical oxygen which is used to support lives in healthcare systems. In the underwater diving industry, oxygen is used as one of the mixtures with other gases such as helium or nitrogen. It is also combustible, in other words, its presence supports the combustion process. In this aspect, it is commonly used in combustion, oxidation, fermentation, aquaculture and wastewater treatment processes. Oxygen is used to improve yield, increase flame temperatures, and reduce carbon footprint and others. For instance, oxygen combustion is a promising solution in cement production to increase plant efficiency, cut cost, and reduce emissions. Apart from that, it is commonly used in the metals cutting industry, by mixing oxygen with dissolved- acetylene (DA) in processes such as cutting, welding, cleaning and melting. Oxygen is also utilised in lab facilities for metal analysis instruments; and in semiconductor production such as oxidation of silicon material.
Ace Gases has a strong and reliable network of distribution allowing us to deliver Liquid Oxygen (LOX) to customers via our own liquid tankers, or via ISO tanks to ASEAN countries. For other options, we also can help customers to set up a vacuum insulated evaporator (VIE) tank that allows bulk storage of LOX on-site. For large consumers, Ace Gases offers customised O2 on-site solutions whereby O2 is generated on-site and linked directly to customers’ point of use.
Application
Hospitals and Medical Facilities
Medical Oxygen Systems are currently used by over 5,000 hospitals in nearly 50 countries to meet their central pipeline and other oxygen needs.
Ozone Generation
Ace Gases oxygen products assist businesses all over the world in getting the most out of their ozone generators.
Aquaculture / Fish Farming
With an Ace Gases Oxygen Generator, you can speed up fish growth and increase stocking density.
Oxygen Lancing and Decarburization
The use of oxygen lancing to optimise the combustion process is a common practise.
Wastewater Treatment
The process of converting wastewater into water that can be discharged back into the environment.
We are official PCI oxygen generator supplier
Company Overview:
Pacific Consolidated Industries (PCI Gases) is a company based in Riverside, USA, that makes point- of-use air separation equipment that produce either nitrogen or oxygen. This equipment finds its use in markets such as Medical, Industrial, Oil & Gas, and Military. One of our key product lines is the DOCS (Deployable Oxygen Concentration System). This is used to make industrial and medical grade oxygen.
Unique VSA Technology:
We use a unique Vacuum Swing Adsorption (VSA) technology to generate oxygen that uses significantly less valves and rotating components than competing technologies. This in turn leads to inherently higher reliability, which is important in countries with under-developed or challenging infrastructures where oxygen supply is usually the most uncertain.
In addition, this unique technology leads to 50% less power consumption compared to its competitors. This results in very low operating costs and hence addresses another large problem for many countries, the high cost of oxygen for acute hospital care.
We’ve been manufacturing oxygen concentrators using this technology for over 10 years. During the period, we’ve built around 500 systems ranging from sizes of 4 m3/hr to 600 m3/hr. The units have found homes in 40+ countries across all continents in applications as diverse as civilian hospitals, mobile field hospitals, military medical use, high altitude oxygen enrichment, cylinder filling, water and wastewater treatment, aquaculture, pulp & paper, metal cutting, combustion, mining among others.
TECHNOLOGY PROFILE
To produce oxygen from air, PCI uses a proprietary Vacuum Swing Adsorption (VSA) process that elimi- nates many of the design problems associated with traditional Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) systems.
Our innovative VSA system eliminates the need for process valves, feed air compressors, and associated dryers and feed air filtering systems.
PCI’s robust VSA process extracts maximum sieve and power efficiencies = low cost (both CapX and OpX) high purity oxygen generation.
VACUUM SWING ADSORPTION (VSA)
vs
PRESSURE SWING ADSORPTION (PSA)
ADVANTAGES OF VSA OVER PSA PROCESS TECHNOLOGY
CI’s unique Vacuum Swing Adsorption (VSA) technology has several advantages over the more commonly used PSA process:
Energy Saving:
- Needs no feed air compressor (> 50% energy savings vs. conventional PSA systems)
- Load following capability reduces energy consumption even more at reduced flow rates
Installation / Operation / Maintenance / Advantages:
- Uses an oil-free blower, thus avoiding any oil carryover common with oil-lubricated compressors – great for medical applications
- Lower operating pressure minimizes the potential for water condensation
- Not as susceptible to humid environments as are PSA systems
- Single-bed VSA process eliminates virtually all process valves and required manifolds
- Low operating pressure minimizes sieve dusting (the sieve removes the nitrogen from the air), because the pressure swing is an order of magnitude lower, resulting also in lower operating cost
- VSA Adsorber sieve material has a much longer service life than that in PSA vessels – which commonly need repacking of sieve material every 3-5 years – again producing a much lower operating cost
- Shows no, or significantly less, degradation of performance at high altitude – unlike PSA technology
- Turn-key integrated solution—there is no need to size / source air compressors, dryer systems and product or feed buffer tanks
Environmental Advantages:
- No air compressor, therefore no disposal of oil saturated with compressor condensate
- Oil free design eliminating risk of oil carryover downstream of the oxygen system
- PCI utilizes a sealed adsorber bed that does not require opening to replace spent molecular sieve. Therefore there is no residual waste to dispose of
- Pollution free operation – use of electric energy
- Air cooled, no cooling water or the required chemicals for treatment
