INSTRUMENT AIR

PACKAGE
ESSENTIAL FOR CONTROL SYSTEM
OF AN AUTOMATION PLANT

PRESENTED BY
TAPAS DAS ADHIKARI
ROLL NO : 91/PPR/091031
PETROLEUM & PETROCHEMICALS REFINARY ENGG.
SECTION
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY
UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA

&

PRESENTED BY DIPANKAR MAITY

ROLL NO : 91/PPR/091026
PETROLEUM & PETROCHEMICALS REFINARY ENGG.
SECTION
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY
UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA

amount of dust (below the required limit) used in the instrument to

operate pneumatic valves, certain types of pumps, fans, some blowing
down hoses. The Instrument air in a plant is used to supply motive force
for control valves & that keeps the plant in control and running.
Instrument air is often specially dried to reduce the risk of condensation
freezing-out in the small-bore piping. To maintain the above situation in
the plant Instrument air must be dried to remove any moisture and/or
condensate for:

Protecting the instruments and control system from damage.

Obtaining exact readings through these instruments and control

system.
So the instrument air supply should be of highest

quality.

Instrument Air Quality:

The quality of instrument air is what distinguishes it from a
compressed or service air system. The quality of the air is important to
ensure that instrumentation will function properly and reliably. The most
important parameters in specifying air quality are:

Dew Point

Oil Content

Particulates

Temperature
The Instrument Society of America sets quality standards for

instrument air in ISA S7.3.

Different pieces of equipment consume different amounts of air. For

example, a shutdown valve will consume air when it is being actuated. A
throttling valve will have a constant bleed rate with additional
consumption when the valve is modulating. A diaphragm pump
consumes air when it is being actuated.
Instrument air is provided by a compressor and requires
minimal treatment to ensure that the air is free of oil, water or
particulate matter. This is usually accomplished with some type of filter
regulator on the compressor outlet and a dryer.

There are three general methods of drying air:

Chemical drying
Refrigeration.
Adsorption
Selection of air drying equipment is based upon required dew point,
quantity of air to be dried, pressure of the incoming air, excess air
capacity of compressor station, and utility for electricity, steam &
water.

Adsorption:
Adsorption is the property of certain porous materials to hold vapours in the
pores until the desiccant is either heated or exposed to a drier gas. Adsorption
drier is the common type used in instrument air system. The material is solid
& operates alternately through drying & regeneration of the deactivated
catalyst bed with no change in composition. Adsorption materials in use are
Activated alumina, Silica gel, Molecular sieves. By adsorption method -400C to
-600C dew point of air can be easily achieved.
A typical instrumental air drier package unit includes the following
components:
Air Receiver
Compressor
Pre-filter
Two Air Dryer
Post-filter

The air to be dried alternately passes through one air drier & then to the
other. While one air drier is being used to dehydrate, the other is regenerated.
The whole operating cycle of a drier is equally divided between regeneration &
drying steps & is automatically controlled.
Adsorption method can be classified into two categories on the basis of
regeneration mechanism.
1)

Temperature Swing Adsorption

2) pressure swing adsorption

Temperature Swing Adsorption:
In Temperature swing adsorption the adsorbate-loaded bed may be
regenerated by hot purge gas, relatively an inert gas (steam & air are
common) to remove adsorbed substances. The regeneration temperature is
selected on the basis adsorption equilibrium or isotherm at different
temperature & on the stability & characteristics of the adsorbent & adsorbate.

This technique is called temperature swing since the bed temperature

alternates between the adsorption & regeneration temperatures. Heat
requirement for the regeneration is about 2.5 times the enthalpy of
desorption. A hot regenerated bed needs to be cooled down before it goes
for the next adsorption half-cycle. Countercurrent heating & cooling ensure
a low residual solute retention in the bed.
The main disadvantages are:
I.

Energy consumption for heating of the bed for the

regeneration ;

II. Presence of condensate material in the feed causes various

problems during regeneration ;
III. Cooling of the bed should follow regeneration.

Pressure Swing Adsorption:

Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) has evolved as an
alternative to the temperature swing adsorption (TSA) process because
of above disadvantages of the latter. It may be called heat less drying
because of the particular application.
Pressure swing adsorption depends on the fact that the adsorption
capacity of solid increases with increasing pressure of the solute. Thus in
a pressure swing adsorption occurs at a higher pressure of the feed gas
when it is stripped off the solute. The flow of the feed at breakthrough &
the bed is regenerated by reducing the pressure. At this stage the
adsorbate is recovered in a relatively concentrated form. It is to be noted
that a packed bed of adsorbent responds more rapidly to changes in
pressure than to changes in temperature. On the whole process requires
less energy & is operationally simpler than TSA.

The four basic steps of the PSA process according to the Skarstrom cycle
are Adsorption- the feed gas (air in this case) flows at a higher pressure
through the bed, the more absorbable component (the solute) gets
trapped; the purified gas is simultaneously drawn as the product.

Depressurization- the pressure in the vessel is reduced; the

adsorbed component & the residual gas in the bed voids are drawn out
as another product (or may be discarded if it is of no use).
Purging a small fraction of the product gas from the other bed is
passed through the vessel as purge gas to remove most of the residual
solute from the bed.

Depressurization feed is supplied into the adsorption vessel to

Study of Adsorbent:
ACTIVATED ALUMINA

Activated alumina is a porous form of aluminum oxide. It has a high surface

area which adsorbs vapors without any change in form. Activated alumina will
not soften or disintegrate easily when immersed in water. Dew points to - 40F
and lower may be achieved with activated alumina depending on dryer design
and operating conditions.

Applications:
Primarily it is used for air drying & in low temperature applications for
getting better dew point.
Especially suited for compressed air drying system.
Extremely effective for air drying gases.
A highly efficient adsorbent with large porosity & contact surface.
Stable with respect to physically & chemically even at high temperature
& corrosive environment.

Physical properties
1/8 (2-5mm)
3/16(4-8mm)

1/4 (5-10mm)

Color and form

White bead

White bead

White bead

Bulk density

48 lbs/ft3

48 lbs/ft3

48 lbs/ft3

Crush strength

17-30 lbs
1.74 x 106 sq ft/lb

45-60 lbs
1.65 x 106 sq ft/lb

50-70 lbs
1.59 x 106 sq ft/lb

Surface area
Static Adsorption
Humidity
100%

SILICA GEL
Silica gel is a spherical bead consisting of 97-100% silica. It is available in
two types: indicating, a translucent bead impregnated with blue or yellow
color and non-indicating white translucent color.

MOLECULAR SIEVE
Molecular sieve is a sodium alumino-silicate. It has a fixed pore size
according to the material specified, 4 Angstrom being the most
common.
Because of its higher cost, it is normally used for special process
applications. Pressure dew points to -100F may be achieved with
molecular sieve depending on the dryer design and operating
conditions.

OBJECTIVE:
To attain the industrial specification of the instrumental air
as close as possible & design an air drier package of required
capacity.
PLAN OF WORK:
Instrumental air must be freed from moisture, dust, oil, mud
etc. to make it usable in the instruments of the plant. For which
naturally available air is dried by adsorption method.

Selection of process

Selection of desiccant

 Process Description preparation

Desiccant size selection
Desiccant volume calculation
Calculation of L/D ratio for Adsorber
Pipe sizing
Checking of final dew point of the dried air.

PROCESS DETAILS:
1) Process
Selection
There are several processes available for drying of air as
discussed before. Among these which one will be the preferable that
can be suggested only after pointing out their advantage and
disadvantages.

Advantages
a) Refrigeration Disadvantages
i. Very low operating cost.
i. Dew point below 3.50C not
possible
ii.

If there is a chance of
presence of oily particles in the
feed air, these oily particles
can form emulsion and plug
water removal traps.

b) Chemical Drying
Advantages
i. Low installation cost, low
operating cost & high
reliability
:
.
:
.
.
.
.

Disadvantages
i. Moderate drying

ii.
Desiccant must be replaced
periodically
iii. Maximum operating temperature
is limited to 380C; in fact some
desiccant materials melt or fuse
together at 35-400C.
iv. Oil must be kept out of the
desiccant bed
v. Most of the chemical absorbents
are ruled out for use on instrument
air drying system because of

c) Adsorption
i) Temperature swing
adsorption :

Advantages

Disadvantages

i. Very low dew point (-400C to

-600C) can be achieved

i. Regeneration temperature is
very high (~1900C).High
electricity consumption

ii. High capacity, large cycle

length usually 6-10 hrs

ii. There are some troubles with

burnout & heating elements hot
spots

iii. Air consumption is low,

generally 2-5% of incoming air

iii. If any oil vapour adsorbed

with water regeneration
becomes difficult as coking may
occur

ii) Pressure swing

adsorption :
Advantages

Disadvantages

i. Very low dew point (-400C to

-600C) can be achieved

i. Large purge air quantity (1020% of total incoming air)

requires a constant compressor
over-sizing

ii. Heatless process.

ii. Moderate capacity

iii. No electricity consumption

iii. Cannot be used if system

pressure is below 5 kg/cm2

iv. Any oil vapour adsorbed is

easily removed during
regeneration, with no chance of
coking

From the above discussion it is clear that Refrigeration and

Chemical drying are not suitable for instrument grade air (at
least -400C dew point) production. Also chemical drying cannot
operate above 380C.
To avoid the difficulties due to high temperature application
temperature swing adsorption is not accepted and pressure
swing adsorption is the most favorable choice for moisture
removal to produce instrument grade air. Though its capacity is
low, up to a certain limit it is easy to operate.
So pressure swing or heatless adsorption process is selected for

2)Desiccant or Catalyst Selection:

Useful adsorbents/desiccants for water removal are Silica Gel,
Activated Alumina and Molecular Sieve. At first discussion about
the advantages and disadvantages of all these three adsorbents
is necessary.

Silica Gel

Advantages
i. The fastest and cheapest

Disadvantages
i. Silica gel fractures in the
presence of liquid water. It
must be protected by a 10% to
15% (by weight) layer of
activated alumina as a water
buffer on the inlet side of the
desiccant bed

ii. Uniform bead shape

ii. Its selectivity is very low

Activated Alumina
Advantages
i.

ii.

High adsorption capacity

Low abrasion

iii.

Resists liquid water

iv.

High crush strength

v.
vi.

Uniform bead sizes

Moderate cost

Disadvantages
i. Cannot dry up to very low
dew point as compare to
molecular sieve
ii. Its selectivity is moderate. At
low humidity its capacity
becomes very low
iii.

Costly than silica gel

Molecular sieve
Advantages

Disadvantages

i. High selectivity and can

achieve very low dew point

i. High initial cost, high

operating cost

ii. Uniform retention capacity

ii. Vulnerable to oil

iii. Round bead shape

From the above study Activated Alumina is the most

suitable adsorbent for pressure swing adsorption in respect to
selectivity, capacity, compatibility, regenerability, cost &
kinetics. Liquid water will not fracture the alumina bed; it has
high crush & abrasive strength which prevent dust formation,
also invulnerable to oil, initial & operating cost is very small
compare to molecular sieve. It can easily attain dew point
required for instrument grade air.
So Activated Alumina is selected as desiccant medium for
air drying to produce instrument grade air

3) Process Flow
Diagram:

4) Process
Description:
Air is dried
by means of adsorption of moisture on Activated
alumina bed. There are two such beds, at any time one adsorbs
moisture from saturated air and another is regenerated (desorbs
moisture) by a part of the dry air using pressure swing method.
At first saturated air is collected from the receiver & compressed
in a compressor at room temperature. Then the compressed
stream pass through a coalescer type pre-filter (001-PG-001A/B) to
remove oil & condensate and send directly through a control
valve to the dryer where adsorption of moisture is done.

This compressed air stream is the feed stream which can be fed
to either Adsorber-1(001-C-001) or Adsorber-2(001-C-002). These two
dryers with packed beds of adsorbent are commonly used to
serve the purpose of adsorption of moisture. The adsorbers
operate in cycles. when Adsorber-1 receives the feed & operate in
adsorption mode, Adsorber-2 receives purge gas & operates in
the regeneration mode, the air after removal of moisture in
Adsorber-1& divided into two streams, one

is going through a

non returning valve by means of which dry air from any of these

where final filtration is done and the product air may be

send to a secondary dryer or to the instrumental air header (if the
moisture content is satisfactory) & flow of the other stream is
controlled in such a way that 10-20% passes through the Adsorber2 at atmospheric pressure when it is in regeneration mode, after
regeneration the stream is vented to the atmosphere through a
flow control valve (001-FC-02). After half cycle, the operation is just
switch over i.e. Adsorber-1 will be in regeneration mode &
Adsorber -2 in adsorption mode.
Total system is controlled by a sequence controller (001-SC-

EXAMPLES :
Instrument Air Packages
Northwest Equipment Ltd. has extensive
experience in the design, construction and commissioning of
Instrument Air Packages for Canadian as well as international
installations.
Size - HP
Air Compressor
Air Dryer
Air Receiver (gallon)
Air Filtration
Options

2-5

Reciprocating

Heatless
Regenerative Air
Dryer

60 - 120

Oil Coalescing &

Particulate Removal

5 - 30

Reciprocating,
Rotary Vane, Rotary
Screw

Heatless
Regenerative Air
Dryer

120 - 400

Oil Coalescing &

Particulate Removal

30 - 300

Reciprocating,
Rotary Vane, Rotary
Screw

Heatless
Regenerative Air
Dryer

240 - 2000

Oil Coalescing &

Particulate Removal

5-30 HP EXAMPLE

TYPICAL PACKAGE
Duplex rotary vane air compressors
15 hp TEFC motors
Local control panel
120 gallon horizontal air receiver
Heatless regenerative air dryer

30 - 300 HP Examples

TYPICAL PACKAGE
Duplex reciprocating air compressors
TEFC motors
Local control panel
Duplex regenerative air dryers
Sun shade for extreme climate conditions

Complete Building Package

A completely self-sufficient instrument air package can be

packaged within a enclosure and shipped to the site for simplified
installation and commissioning.
Even the smallest of air compressor packages can be provided as
a complete, pre-engineered and ready-to-operate system.

CONCLUSION:
Instrument grade air should contain very low amount of water
(below -400C at atmospheric pressure) and should not contain any
oil & dust particles. From the above study to ensure the quality of
instrument grade air following sequence is follows
Pre-filtration to remove oil mists or other condensate
by using a coalescer type filter.

Drying of air using activated alumina as desiccant by

pressure swing adsorption method.
After filtration to remove any dust particles.
It is important to maintain the inlet air pressure above 5kgf/cm2 to
perform the pressure swing adsorption method. Also the total
pressure drop across the equipments should not exceed 0.5-0.7
kg /cm2.

BIBLIOGRAPH
Ullmanns Encyclopedia
of Industrial Chemistry, volume-1, sixth edition.
Y

Kirk Othmer, Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, volume-1, 18, third edition.

http://www.sulphuric-acid.com/techmanual/Utilities/instrair.htm
Foster wheeler, Off-site manual, plant & instrument air section, August-1983
Binay K. Dutta, Principle of mass transfer & separation processes, fourth printing-2010, PHI-learning
pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.
Adsorbent Desiccants, Air & Vacuum Process, Inc. VAN AIR SYSTEM, info@vanairsystems.com,
2009.
Air driers- info@www.nwequipltd.com , Penton Media, Inc, 2011.
Kent S. Knaebel, Adsorbent Selection, Adsorption Research, Inc, Dublin, Ohio-43016.
Robert E. Treybal, Mass Transfer operations, 3rd Edition, McGraw Hill Book Company.
Atkins, Physical Chemistry, 8th Edtion-2004, Elsevier Science & Technology Books.
Activated alumina balls-SORBED INDIA-info@www.sorbedindia.com
Pressure Swing Adsorption, info@www.pall.com, june-2010, England.
Activated Alumina & Molecular Sieves, Axens, Procatalysts & Adsorbents- info@www.axens.net
A BeaconMeds Continuing Education Publication On Instrumental Air mallen@beaconmedaes.com

THANK YOU