How does the PSA nitrogen generator reduce impurities in nitrogen?

The PSA nitrogen generator reduces impurities in nitrogen through a series of precise process steps to provide high-purity nitrogen. The air is first preliminarily purified through the air treatment system to remove impurities such as dust, moisture, and oil. This step is critical because it provides clean raw gas for the subsequent adsorption process, which helps to extend the service life of the adsorbent and improve the purity of nitrogen.
The preliminarily purified air is sent to the compressor for pressurization. The pressurized air will undergo more rigorous oil, water, and dust removal to ensure that the compressed air entering the adsorption tower is clean.
The pressurized clean air enters the adsorption tower equipped with carbon molecular sieve. Carbon molecular sieve is the core of PSA technology. Its selective adsorption difference for nitrogen and oxygen is the key to achieving oxygen and nitrogen separation. In the adsorption tower, due to the small diameter of oxygen molecules and the fast diffusion rate, more oxygen molecules enter the micropores of the carbon molecular sieve and are preferentially adsorbed; while nitrogen molecules have a large diameter and a slow diffusion rate, and enter less micropores of the carbon molecular sieve, so they are enriched in the gas phase to form finished nitrogen.
When the adsorbent is saturated, the carbon molecular sieve is desorbed by reducing the pressure, and this process is called regeneration. During the regeneration process, the adsorbent releases the adsorbed oxygen and other impurities, and produces pure nitrogen at the same time. In order to achieve continuous production, two adsorption towers are usually set up in the system, one tower for adsorption and nitrogen production, and the other tower for decompression regeneration. The opening and closing of the pneumatic valve is controlled by the PLC program controller, so that the two towers work alternately.
The qualified nitrogen obtained by separation is fed into the nitrogen buffer tank for temporary storage, which can not only balance the nitrogen output, but also provide a stable gas source for subsequent nitrogen-using equipment. If higher purity nitrogen is required, it can be further processed by nitrogen purification equipment. For example, an appropriate amount of hydrogen can be added to catalyze the reaction between hydrogen and trace oxygen in nitrogen to remove oxygen, and then ultra-high purity nitrogen can be obtained through condensation, water removal, adsorption drying and other steps.
PSA nitrogen generator reduces impurities in nitrogen through air pretreatment, compression and further purification, pressure swing adsorption separation, adsorbent regeneration, and nitrogen buffering and purification (optional), thereby providing high-purity nitrogen. The precise matching and efficient operation of these steps are the key to ensuring the stable performance of PSA nitrogen generator and high purity of output nitrogen.