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A pressure swing adsorption apparatus to vary selectively the concentration of at least one constituent of a gaseous mixture by sending a gaseous mixture into an adsorber to generate a particular product gas while delivering to another adsorber both a predetermined portion of the product gas to purg

A pressure swing adsorption apparatus to vary selectively the concentration of at least one constituent of a gaseous mixture by sending a gaseous mixture into an adsorber to generate a particular product gas while delivering to another adsorber both a predetermined portion of the product gas to purge the other adsorber of its adsorbed gas and a selected amount of the product gas, independent of the flow rate and in addition to the predetermined portion, to produce a desired relative concentration of the constituents of the product gas from a range of relative concentrations.

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[ I claim:] [1.] In a pressure swing adsorption apparatus having at least two multi-zone adsorbers, each adsorber having a mass transfer zone to adsorb a portion of at least one constituent gas in a gaseous mixture of at least two gaseous constituents, a method for selectively changing the relative

[ I claim:] [1.] In a pressure swing adsorption apparatus having at least two multi-zone adsorbers, each adsorber having a mass transfer zone to adsorb a portion of at least one constituent gas in a gaseous mixture of at least two gaseous constituents, a method for selectively changing the relative concentrations of the other constituent gas to produce a product gas with a desired concentration of the other constituent gas and selected from one of a number of different concentrations of the other constituent gas in the product gas, said method comprising:alternately moving, at a predetermined flow rate, the gaseous mixture in a co-current direction through each one of the adsorbers to produce the product gas and for moving the product gas in an opposite, counter-current direction through the other adsorber to purge said second adsorber by adsorbing at least a substantial portion of the one constituent gas;moving a predetermined portion of the product gas produced by each one of the adsorbers in the counter-current direction through the other adsorber to sufficiently purge the adsorbed one constituent gas from the other adsorber;diverting from said one adsorber a variable portion of the product gas, in addition to the predetermined portion, to said other adsorber in the counter-current direction to control, independently of the flow rate, the location of the mass transfer zone and the amount of adsorption of the one constituent gas in said one adsorber to produce the product gas with the desired concentration of the other constituent gas; anddelivering to a receiving means the balance of the product gas having the desired concentration of the other constituent gas.