Removal of carbon monoxide and hydrogen from air

Ultra high purity N₂ is required in the manufacture of integrated circuits to prevent defects in chips of increasing line densities. Cryogenic distillation is typically used for the production of highly purified nitrogen gas. Almost all the H₂ and about 2/3rd of CO present in ambient air ends up in nitrogen produced by cryogenic distillation. A discussion on the removal of CO and hydrogen from air covers a two-step procedure employed for the removal of these impurities from air in a nitrogen production process; the order of arrangement for different adsorbent and catalyst layers in such units, and its impact on unit performance; reducing the amount of catalyst required to oxidize hydrogen to moisture; and reasons for this improved performance and its implications. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the AIChE Annual Meeting and Fall Showcase (Cincinnati, OH 10/30/2005-11/4/2005).