The ambient conditions at the installation site have a very important impact on the

performance of a PSA generator:

• Higher ambient temperatures = higher feed air temperatures;

• Gases expand with higher temperatures, so less feed air mass can be loaded into
the PSA adsorber tower during each cycle, as tower volume and adsorption pressure
remain constant;
• The adsorption efficiency of any molecular sieve for PSA generator decreases with
increasing adsorption temperatures;
• The size of the air compressor for a PSA generator has to be factored for site
elevation. Higher elevations will require a larger air compressor;

So the produced mass flow of the PSA oxygen or nitrogen generator (expressed in Nm3/h)
strongly depends on the actual ambient temperature at the installation site, as can be seen
in the following graph:

Assumption: 65% Relative Humidity for all ambient temperatures, installation site at sea level.

As can be observed, the product mass flow of any PSA nitrogen or oxygen generator, and
independent from its manufacturer, decreases at increasing ambient temperatures. But the
feed air consumption expressed in the generally applied performance unit for air
compressors, m3/min FAD (Free Air Delivery) at ambient temperature, remains constant or
even increases, which is very important to know for the selection of the right air compressor.
And this situation even deteriorates at higher relative humidity values!

The consideration of this behavior during the dimensioning of a PSA system is essential, not
only to select the correct PSA generator, but also to select a feed air compressor with
sufficient capacity. We want to supply you a system that always works. That's why we need
to know the altitude and the highest ambient temperature and corresponding relative
humidity value at your installation site in order to supply you a correctly dimensioned PSA
system, which is able to supply your gas requirements even under the toughest conditions.
The design ambient temperature is the temperature for which the performance data of the
PSA nitrogen or oxygen generator is valid. For example, the design ambient temperature for
the PSA system of the performance graph of previous Question No. 10 is 20 °C. At this
ambient temperature the performance of the PSA system is identical to the written
performance data, but the performance changes at different ambient temperature values, as
can be seen in the same graph.

The operating temperature range includes all ambient temperatures at which the PSA
nitrogen or oxygen system can be operated. In the before mentioned graph of Question No.
8, the operating ambient temperature range is between +5 °C and +45 °C. But the
performance of the PSA system changes significantly over the entire operating temperature
range!

No here comes the trick many manufacturers apply when they offer you a PSA system and
which you should be aware of very carefully:

Making a lot of confusion about design and operating ambient temperatures in their
quotations

so that you believe that the proposed PSA system has a constant performance over the
entire operating range. But this is physically impossible!

As above graphs shows you, the size of the PSA generator should be increased by 29% in
order to have the same mass flow at 45 °C as at the previous design ambient temperature of
20 °C. However, in both situations the operating temperature range is equal!
The following table shows you an example of the impact of amient temp design:

Higher Ambient Temp. Design Lower Ambient Temp. Design

Design Temperature 45 °C (specified in offer) 20 °C
Operating Range + 5 °C - +45 °C + 5 °C - +45 °C
PSA Product Flow @ 20 °C 129% of Requested Flow Rate 100% of Requested Flow Rate
PSA Product Flow @ 45 °C 100% of Requested Flow Rate 71% of Requested Flow Rate

Conclusion: High risk for insufficient gas supply to your application at high ambient
temperatures!