Using sulfinol-m solvent to decrease energy consumption and increase acid gases removing in the sour natural gas sweetening process

The natural gas sweetening based on Physico-chemical absorption has been proposedas the energy efficient method for removing impurities such as H۲S, Mercaptanes, CO۲,COS etc. In the present paper sulfinol-M solvent is used in the absorption tower tosimultaneously benefit from physical and chemical absorption due to respectivelyexistence of Solfulane and diethanolamine (MDEA) in the solvent mixture. Reductionof Energy consumption is not only the imperative factor in chemical industriesprofitability but also is one of the controlling keys in greenhouse gas emissions andglobal warming. The PROMAX® simulator software V۳.۲ have been utilized forsimulating the natural gas sweetening train of the Fajr Jam Gas Refining Company(FJGRC) in order to reduce required energy for regenerating solvent, where solitaryMDEA solvent is substituted by sulfinol-M. With considering the main constraintssuch as solvent lean/rich acid gas loading and the sweet gas pipeline specifications, theeffect of several parameters including Sulfinol flow rate, the proportion of Solfulaneand MDEA (fractional weight based) in the mixture has been investigated fordetermining the optimum operational conditions. The sulfolane and MDEA weightfraction changed between ۲۰% to ۵۰% and ۳۰% to ۴۵% respectively. The compositionof absorber tower sweet gas showed that in all studied cases the H۲S content werebelow than ۲.۵ ppm and in the best case it reaches to ۰.۰۲۳ ppm. Moreover, the resultrevealed that using sulfinol-M solvent has no important effect on removing mercaptans.Also, the CO۲ content was below ۱۳۰۰ ppm for all cases. Furthermore, in comparisonwith the actual case with MDEA solvent, there is about ۱۸ ton/hr reduction inregenerator steam consumption where the amount of steam consumption for sulfinol-M in the best case (۳۰ wt% MDEA and ۴۰ wt% sulfolane) reaches to ۱۷ ton/hr. insummary, using sulfinol-M solvent in FJGRC can be economically useful and causethe higher CO۲ absorbing.