High purity oxygen production by pressure vacuum swing adsorption using natural zeolite
Ali F. Al‐Shawabkeh, Nijad Al-Najdawi, Abdullah N. Olimat
Abstract
Pressure swing adsorption, which utilizes Nitrogen-selective adsorbents, is one of the well-known methods used in the design of medical oxygen concentrators. This method is applied in this work to design a smart oxygen concentrator prototype. For the first time, Natural Zeolite minerals from Jordan are studied as a Nitrogen-selective adsorbents for medical oxygen concentrator's production. Considering the patients' safety and end-user's convenience the proposed prototype is outfitted with a cutting-edge IoT technology, allowing monitoring for the patient's blood Oxygen level and the Oxygen percentage produced by the concentrator. In order to accomplish the concentration level requirements for medical-grade Oxygen, the Oxygen concentrator prototype can efficiently supply a stream of Oxygen that is 93% volume enriched. Three collected natural samples from different geographical parts of Jordan have been appropriately prepared, studied and tested in order to determine the most appropriate zeolite material to be used, the results show that the obtained samples have resulted in O2 production as follows: Jabal Aritayn (NE of Azraq) 78%–80%, Tal-Al Rimah (NE Mafraq) 86%–88%, Jabal Ata'atah (SE Tafila) 91%–93% at 7 L/Min.