Abstract: To further improve the construction level of plateau tunnel in China, the relevant researches of oxygen production and supply technology for plateau tunnel in China are summarized and analyzed, and the shortcomings and development direction are discussed by taking the typical plateau tunnel cases for examples. The previous study results mainly include (1) the improvement of pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen production process and adsorbent, the research and development of small portable oxygen production equipment; (2) the ventilation and oxygen generation scheme for plateau tunnel, i.e. optimized ventilation scheme, PSA oxygen generation outside, dispersion oxygen supply inside and personal oxygen bottles; and (3) the oxygen supply scheme for different construction stages of the tunnel according to the labor grade. Presently, the shortcomings and development directions mainly include (1) the development of new and efficient adsorbents for oxygen industry; (2) the research on the influence of process parameters on oxygen production efficiency and mathematical relationship model in the real environment of plateau area; (3) determination of the air quality and actual oxygen content in the tunnel face, improvement of oxygen demand standards for personnel and the phased scientific design of tunnel ventilation scheme; and (4) development and popularization of the high efficiency electric tunnel construction equipment.

Key words: tunnel, plateau, oxygen production, pressure swing adsorption, oxygen supply