In the 1970s, Union Carbide Corporation industrialized pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen generation technology for the first time using normal pressure desorption (PSA) process. The adsorbent was CaA adsorbent with low nitrogen adsorption capacity and high oxygen power consumption.

In the 1990s, vacuum pressure swing adsorption (VPSA) oxygen production technology using LiX adsorbent became the international mainstream process, which is more suitable for the needs of large-scale installations. The research on oxygen production by pressure swing adsorption in China was carried out almost simultaneously with the international counterparts. However, limited by the low domestic productivity of efficient adsorbents and backward technical research on adsorption vessels and overall processes, the development of domestic PSA oxygen technology was slow, meanwhile, the scale of VPSA plants was stuck in bottlenecks and oxygen generation was accompanied by problems like high energy consumption, frequent replacement of adsorbents, etc., leading to a critical impact on production. During this period, domestic large-scale VPSA oxygen plants were almost all imported and a large amount of foreign exchange was used due to the high price.

In the late 1990s, the gas separation and purification center led by Professor Xie Youchang of Peking University took the lead in creating high-efficiency LiX oxygen adsorbent with high nitrogen & oxygen selectivity and nitrogen adsorption capacity. After stable mass production of LiX oxygen adsorbent, China started integrated process design & manufacture of complete sets of industrial PSA oxygen generation plants for the first time. From then on, the PSA oxygen generation plants produced in China and using efficient LiX oxygen adsorbent were widely applied.

Recently, with the gradual standardization, maturity and growth of the gas market, domestic first-line pressure swing adsorption manufacturers have looked beyond plant sales and focused more on entering the professional service market of onsite gas production & supply in line with their specialized service concept. The oxygen generation plant has achieved intelligent unattended operation, marking a new development period for domestic pressure swing adsorption oxygen generation.