14 The 2nd International Seminar on Science and Technology

August 2nd 2016, Postgraduate Program Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya, Indonesia

Simulation of Hydrogen Purification using Two

Abstract— Hydrogen has various functions in chemical recorded imports hydrogen reached 39.921 tons [5].
ind1ustries, as an agent of organic compounds synthesis, a Various kinds of processes that can be used for the
reactant in hydrocracking, hydroalkelation, and production of hydrogen of any raw materials. That results
hydrodesulfurization process in petrochemical industry, a hydrogen the largest of a steam reforming, autothermal
reactant in hydrogenated fat process, a reductant agent in
reforming and catalytic partial oxidation that uses natural
material industry, methanol production, silicon manufacture.
Therefore, hydrogen purification is very important process for gas or coal bed metane to produce cost hydrogen fuel 6.26
the industry processes. Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) is ($/GJ) [2].
commonly used hydrogen purification process. Different utility Some industrial process need hydrogen with purity more
used for hydrogen purification using PSA will change than 99%. Many technique separation to purify hydrogen.
adsorbent’s capacity and pressure to separate the mixture of gas Purification that uses cryogenic separation and diffusion of
into desirable components. In this study, pressure is varied from polymer membrane produce hydrogen with under 98%
2 to 10 bar and adsorbents are used silica gel and activated purity. To reach above 99% purity, pressure swing
carbon. Hydrogen purification using two beds system PSA is adsorption (PSA) method or catalytic purification can be
simulated using Aspen Adsorption software. Based on the
used [6]. PSA is the most often used process in hydrogen
simulation result, it can be concluded that the pressure that
gives most steady system is at 7 bar, which produces 99,92 % purification, and developed into multi-bed process by
hydrogen purity using activated carbon in bed 1 and silica gel combining different absorbent in each column at a step
in bed 2. pressure equalization [7].
The pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process has
Keywords –Hydrogen Purity, Two Bed Adsorption, Pressure become a widely used unit operation or purification. Due
Swing Adsorption, Aspen Adsorption to increasing demand of hydrogen for petroleum refinery
and petrochemical processing, a strong economic
I. INTRODUCTION motivation has prompted the development of processes to
recover hydrogen from steam reformer off gas, catalytic
In the last years, the need for alternatives to fossil fuel reformer off gas, ad ethylene plant effluent gas [8].
has been explored due to environmental concerns. In order The problems found in the research are how to make a
to be significants, an alternative fuel has to be technically simulation model for pressure swing hydrogen purification
feasible, economically competitive, environmentally using Aspen Adsorption software while considering many
satisfactory and readily accessible. Lately, hydrogen has aspects: equipment operating conditions and adsorbent
been extensively explored as an alternative source of used by PSA. These considerations are calculated for
energy due to its features. Hydrogen has a higher spesific energy savings from additional utility, related to time and
energy content, when compared with the other fuels and is expenses required for the desired end products. To
widely used in numerous chemical process industries [1]. understand and develop the hydrogen PSA process, the
Hydrogen is an abundant element in the earth but in the researchers studied the effects of many operating
form of a gaseous compound of H2 very rarely available in parameters and manipulated parameter as pressure and
nature. The use of hydrogen have been developed as a adsorbent.
source of energy either for fuel vehicles, a power plant, as However, only few studies have been focused on
well as rocket fuel. Hydrogen as fuel has better property controlling hydrogen impurity for fuel-cell application.
than conventional fuel, for example, the energy generated Moreover, the optimization work is necessary for PSA
is higher and not producing pollution [2]. In addition, system due to the complicated nature of dynamic cyclic
hydrogen can be used in industry as a synthesis agent of process, and the fact that there are a large number of design
organic compounds, a catalyst for production process of parameters, such as step times, pressure, temperature, gas
hydrogenated fat in food and beverages industry, velocity, and bed dimennsions, which can affect PSA
production of silicon and many more[3]. separation performance [9]
Energy derived from fossils including energy is not
sustainable that the less [4]. Based on data from Badan
II. METHOD
Pusat Statistik Indonesia, imported products hydrogen in
Indonesia increased every year. In 2008 increased 2.724 This study also aims to understand equipment’s operating
tons of the year 2007 the volume of hydrogen increase in conditions and adsorbent used in PSA design, therefore it
2010 to within 3530 tons of the year 2009. In 2013 can save energy from additional utility and expenses

1
Vibianti Dwi Pratiwi, Juwari, and Renanto Handogo are with
Departement of Chemical Engineering, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh
Nopember, Surabaya, 60111, Indonesia, Email:
vibiantidwi@yahoo.co.id; joecheits@yahoo.co.id; renanto@chem-
eng.its.ac.id
The 2nd International Seminar on Science and Technology 15
August 2nd 2016, Postgraduate Program Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya, Indonesia

required for the desired products. Thermodynamic package Validation simulation this process be useful to know the
used in research is Peng-Robinson, which is suitable for feasibility of PSA in the hydrogen purify process. The
gas separation. This research uses research by Jaeyoung scheme diagram of PSA system for validation that can be
Yang and Chang Ha Lee (1997) [8] as validation for the seen from Figure 1.
process applied in to the Aspen Adsorption software.

Figure 1. Scheme of Pressure Swing Adsorption

Gas separated is a mixture of methane, carbon The characteristics of adsorption bed data and
monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2) , hydrogen (H2) adsorbent input into Aspen Adsorption are shown in the
and nitrogen (N2). The data for feed composition on Table 2. At this stage the results simulated dynamic
Table 1 that being used. Two bed adsorbers are used to state using Aspen Adsorption offer the same results on
determine hydrogen purification using simulation. the condition in research.

TABLE 1.
FEED COMPOSITION
Component Compotition

CH4 0,266

CO 0,084

CO2 0,031

H2 0,564

N2 0,055

Total 1

TABLE 2.
CHARACTERISTICS BED ADSORPTION DAN ADSORBENT
Characteristics Spesification Value Units
bed density 746 kg/m3
Void fraction 0,35 m3void/m3bed
Total void fraction 0,76 m3void/m3bed
Bed Adsorption
Bed lenght 100 cm
Collumn heat capacity 0,119977 cal/gm/k
Collumn wall thickness 0,00134 m
Particel radius 0,00157 m
Particle porosity 0,65 m void/m3bead
3
Adsorben
Particle density 1160 kg/m3
Heat capacity 0,219953 cal/gm/k
16 The 2nd International Seminar on Science and Technology
August 2nd 2016, Postgraduate Program Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya, Indonesia

The simulation using data, information, parameters, and pressures to separate a gas mixture into its components.
operating conditions in research for validation process. The loading capacity of an adsorbent is the amount of gas
When the dynamic state simulated using Aspen Adsorption that can be bound by mass unit of the adsorbent material.
offer the same results on the condition in field, so design The extent to which an adsorbent material. The extent to
of PSA can be monitored by Aspen Adsorption. Pressure which an adsorbent can be loaded increases in general with
and adsorbent are manipulated variable for this study. the partial pressure of gas component [10]
Pressure is varied from 2 to 10 bar and adsorbents use silica This research aims to determine the influence of pressure
gel and activated carbon in two bed adsorbers PSA. and type of adsorbent for adsorbing impurities in hydrogen
purifying process. Figure 2 shows the simulation of
III. DISCUSSION hydrogen purification using Aspen Adsorption.
The PSA process for hydrogen purification utilizes
different loading capacities of adsorbent at different

Figure 2. Validation for Process Simulation of Hydrogen Purification

TABLE 3.
RESULT OF VALIDATION FOR PROCESS SIMULATION USING ASPEN ADSORPTION
P (bar) H2 (%) CO2 (%)
2 95,12% 1,22%
4 99,74% 0,23%
5 99,78% 0,20%
6 99,78% 0,20%
7 99,79% 0,20%
8 99,76% 0,22%
9 99,74% 0,25%
10 99,72% 0,27%

When a gas mixture containing hydrogen enters the research [8] with changes in pressure varying seen in
adsorbent bed at high pressure, most components are Table 3.
moved by the adsorption force to the adsorbent surface Variation the pressure follow the research having
and bound to the adsorbent. The adsorbed gas range 2 bar until 10 bar. In Figure 3, validation results
components concentrate on the adsorbent surface while show that the hydrogen purity obtained using the
the lighter components, such as hydrogen, are not software Aspen Adsorption approach to research.
bound thighly to adsorbent materials, and pass the Based on the results of simulation seen from the Figure
adsorbent bed without sigificant interaction [10] 3 can be said that the pressure most steady in purify
In a dynamic adsorption system, the better adsorbed hydrogen to pressure 7 bar. Under pressure 7 bar show
components move slower through the adsorbent bed purity hydrogen are getting down because approaching
than the less adsorbeb. By this, the concentration of atmospheric pressure. But it becomes adsorption up
impurities in processed gas is reduced while flowing pressure on 7 bar, then purity hydrogen declining.
through the adsorbent bed, which result in the desired
separation of stream components [10]. Simulation in
this study that been validated using data from the
The 2nd International Seminar on Science and Technology 17
August 2nd 2016, Postgraduate Program Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya, Indonesia

100.00%
95.00%
90.00%

% Hydrogen Purity
85.00%
80.00%
75.00%
70.00%
65.00%
60.00%
55.00%
50.00%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
P (bar)

Figure 3. Result Of Validation For Process Simulation

The effect of pressure adsorption in Figure 3 above adsorber beds are designed with up to two layers of
shows that purity hydrogen will decline fast enough to different adsorbent materials to separate hydrogen from
pressure about 7 bar and recovery hydrogen which are the mixture of various gases.
getting down as pressure which the lower. The recovery Bed pressure and adsorbent type used have significant
hydrogen because loss of hydrogen for depressurization effect in hydrogen purification process by PSA. Pressure
pressure. In general, the more process emulation pressure variation and type of adsorbent in two bed without
on the process of PSA will reduce gas loss wasted into the combination in bed 1 and bed 2 is shown on Table 4.
atmosphere. However this condition bed adsorption need Based Table 4, the highest purity produced using two
more so will increase operating expenses to produce same adsorbents inside two beds is 99.88% at 4 bar using
purity hydrogen. activated carbon. Hydrogen purification using activated
Commercially avalable adsorbents are granulates, beads carbon give higher purity than hydrogen purification
or extrudes. Common to all adsorbents materials is porous using silica gel. The highest purity while using silica gel
structure resulting in large surface. Through these pores, is 99.03% at 2 bar.
the moleculess move to the internal surfaces, where they
are adsorbed. Any adsorbent material has specific binding
capacities for different gas components [10]. Therefore,
TABLE 4.
HYDROGEN PURITY VARIATION FOR TWO BED
P (bar) Silica gel Activated carbon
2 99.03% 87.95%
4 88.33% 99.88%
6 88.30% 99.84%
7 88.30% 99.82%
8 67.99% 99.80%
10 63.39%

TABLE 4.
VARIATION OF PRESSURE AND ADSORBENT FOR HYDROGEN PURIFICATION
P Silica gel/ Activated carbon Activated carbon/ silica gel
2 67.96
4 99.86 65.86
6 78.82 99.78
7 99.78 99.92
8 99.76 99.90
10 74.04 64.49

The relationship between the stuff that can be adsorp adsorbent. For the next isoterm be relevant and other
with temperatures and concentration can be given a chart property with estimate recovery intended products on
known as isotherm adsorption. On the temperature fixed various pressure operation (assuming that purity products
number of whose molecules can be adsorp at a surface is optimum), and finally estimated the cost adsorbent the
dependent on gas pressure or concentration of solutions. total cost.
The first item on a system design PSA is to choose
18 The 2nd International Seminar on Science and Technology
August 2nd 2016, Postgraduate Program Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya, Indonesia

Mario I [11] have concluded that granular shaped from a gaseous to liquid phase. It can decrease the
activated carbon can be a good adsorbent because it pressure but keeping the storage capacity the same or
decreases pressure in adsorption tank. When being increase storage capacity but keeping the pressure the
adsorbed in activated carbon, hydrogen phase will change same.

Figure 4. Hydrogen Purification Simulation Result, Displayed In 3D Diagram.

The highest hydrogen purity in combination of [2] Widhiastuti. F., & Biansha. F., “Pra Desain Pabrik Hidrogen dari
Coal Bed Methane”, Surabaya: Institut Teknologi Sepuluh
activated carbon or silica gel bed is produced at 7 bar
Nopember, 2014.
pressure. Activated carbon absorbent put on bed 1 and [3] Adhinata. F., & Fauziyah. M., “Pra Desain Pabrik Hidrogen dari
silica gel put on bed 2 to produce hydrogen purity of Batubara”, Surabaya: Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember,
99.92%. In Figure 4, it is shown the result of simulation 2015.
[4] Siregar, Y D I., Produksi Gas Hidrogen dari Limbah Aluminium,
of hydrogen purification displayed in 3D diagram.
Jurnal Valensi, Vol. 2 No. 1 Hal. 362-367, ISSN : 1978 – 8193,
Research of Jaeyoung Yang and Chang Ha Lee (1997) 2010.
[8] using activated carbon in PSA hydrogen purification, [5] BPS, Administrator., Komoditi Ekspor-Impor.
while in this research we use activated carbon or zeolite http://www.bps.go.id/. Accsessed on Wednesday, October 8th
2014.
absorbents.
[6] Lin Lin., “Numerical Simulation of Pressure Swing Adsorption
Based from research [12], more than two different Process”, China: Xidian University, 1997.
adsorbents are applied to many PSA processes due to [7] Majlan Edy H., Wan Daud Wan R., Iyuke Sunny E., Mohamad
adsorption affinity differences among the adsorbents. To Abu B., Kadhum Amir H., Mohammad Abdul W., Takriff Mohd.
S., and Bahaman N., “Hydrogen purification using compact
produce one high purity product from a multi-component
pressure swing adsorption system for fuel cell”, International
feed, layered beds, in which two different adsorbents are Journal Of Hydrogen Energy, Vol. 34, pp. 2771–2777, 2009.
superimposed on one other, are applied to the processes [8] Yang Jaeyoung, Lee Chang Ha dan Chang Jay Woo, “Separation
with great efficiency. of Hydrogen Mixtures by a Two-Bed Pressure Swing Adsorption
Process Using Zeolite 5A”, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. Vol. 36 hal.
In pratical application, many PSA processes with
2789-2798, 1987.
layered beds have included a guard to prevent detrimental [9] Huang. Q and Mladen. E, “Simulation of Hydrogen Purification
impurities from entering the main layered bed. In the by Pressure Swing Adsorption”, Canada: University of New
PSA process with layered bed, the bottom layer works as Brunswick, 2010.
[10] Biswas P., Agrawal S., dan Sinha S., “Modeling and Simulation
a bulk separator, and the top layer purifies the raffinate
for Pressure Swing Adsorption System for Hydrogen
stream from the separator layer [12]. Purification”, Chem. Biochem. Eng. Q. Vol. 24(4), hal. 409–414,
2010.
IV. CONCLUSION [11] Mario I., “Analisa Kapasitas Penyerapan Hidrogen pada karbon
Aktif Berbahan Dasar Batok Kelapa Granular dengan
From simulation result, it is shown that adsorbent type Pendekatan Persamaan Adsorpsi Isotermal”, Depok: Universitas
combination that gives the best result is activated carbon Indonesia, 2012.
[12] Sol, A., Geun, L. D., You, Y. W., Hyun, K. K., Min, O., & Ha,
and silica gel that produces 99.92% purity with 7 bar bed
L. C., Layered Two- and Four- Bed PSA Processes for Hidrogen
pressure. Recovery from Coal Gas, Chemical Engineering Science , 413-
423, 2012.
REFERENCES
[1] Franco. C. R. S., “Pressure Swing Adsorption for Hydrogen
Purification”, Portugal: Universidade Do Porto, 2014.