Multi-stage moving bed type adsorption device

Claim 1

A multi-stage, moving bed-type, adsorption apparatus, comprising: a gas-circulating vessel having a gas inlet and a gas outlet for gas to be treated; a plurality of adsorption chamber units, said adsorption chamber units being located inside said vessel between said gas inlet and said gas outlet, and filled with adsorbent particles and being arranged in vertical alignment one above the other so that adsorbent particles can flow downwardly through said units in series; each of said adsorption chamber units comprising opposed, upwardly extending, horizontally spaced-apart, front and rear, upper walls, said upper walls comprising louvers so that gas can be fed through the louvers in one of said upper walls and can be discharged through the louvers in the other of said upper walls, the upper ends of said upper walls being horizontally spaced from each other to define an inlet for said adsorbent particles, said upper walls diverging with respect to each other in the downward direction; opposed, horizontally spaced-apart, front and rear, lower walls extending downwardly from the lower ends of said front upper wall and said rear upper wall, respectively, said lower walls converging toward each other in the downward direction with the lower ends of said lower walls being horizontally spaced from each other to define an outlet for adsorbent particles; a pair of side walls extending between said front and rear, upper and lower walls at the opposite ends thereof, respectively, for closing the space therebetween so that said upper, lower and side walls define a chamber for containing said adsorbent particles; a horizontal rectifying body which is of inverted V-shape in cross section and a vertical rectifying plate extending downwardly from the apex of said rectifying body, said rectifying body and said rectifying plate being centrally located in the lower portion of said chamber between said front and rear lower walls and extending horizontally between said side walls; a coupling passage extending downwardly from the adsorbent outlet of each of said adsorption chamber units, except the lowermost one thereof, to the adsorbent inlet of the adjacent adsorption chamber unit located therebelow, each said coupling passage being located directly vertically below the rectifying body of the adsorption chamber unit disposed thereabove, each said coupling passage being defined by opposed, horizontally spaced-apart, front and rear, vertical walls which extend downwardly from the lower ends of the front and rear lower walls of the upper adsorption chamber unit to the upper ends of the front and rear upper walls of the adjacent lower adsorption chamber unit so that adsorbent particles leaving the adsorbent outlet of the upper adsorption chamber unit flow through said coupling passage into the adsorbent inlet of the adjacent lower adsorption chamber unit; the horizontal distance between said upper walls of each of said adsorption chamber units, except the uppermost adsorption chamber unit, being larger than the horizontal distance between said upper walls of the adjacent upper adsorption chamber unit at corresponding vertical locations in said units, so that the space velocity of the gas that flows through a lower adsorption chamber unit is lower than the space velocity of the gas that flows through the adjacent upper adsorption chamber unit; and an adsorbent particle discharging means provided at the adsorbent outlet of the lowermost adsorption chamber unit.