Refinery Gas Treating Processes
David S. J. Jones and Steven A. Treese
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
The Process Development and Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
Common Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
Other Gas Treating Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
Calculating the Amine Circulation Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
Calculating the Number of Theoretical Trays in an Amine Contactor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
Calculating Absorber Tray Size and Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
Calculating the Heat Transfer Area for the Lean/Rich Amine Exchanger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
The Stripper Design and Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512
Removing Degradation Impurities from MEA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
Appendix Process Design of an Amine Gas Treating Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514
The Contactor Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514
The Overall Dimensions of the Contactor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
Tower Top Conditions and Condenser Duty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
Abstract
Refinery gas treating removes the so called “acid gases” (hydrogen sulfide and
carbon dioxide) from the refinery gas streams. Removal of the acid gases in the
refinery streams is required either to purify a gas stream for further use in a
process or for environmental reasons. This chapter describes the most common
sour gas treating processes. Design techniques are provided for the amine-based
approaches along with a design example.
David S. J. Jones: deceased.
Steven A. Treese has retired from Phillips 66.
D.S.J. Jones
Calgary, AB, USA
S.A. Treese (*)
Puget Sound Investments LLC, Katy, TX, USA
e-mail: streese256@aol.com
# Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
S.A. Treese et al. (eds.), Handbook of Petroleum Processing,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-14529-7_11
499
David S. J. Jones and Steven A. Treese
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
The Process Development and Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
Common Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
Other Gas Treating Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
Calculating the Amine Circulation Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
Calculating the Number of Theoretical Trays in an Amine Contactor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
Calculating Absorber Tray Size and Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
Calculating the Heat Transfer Area for the Lean/Rich Amine Exchanger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
The Stripper Design and Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512
Removing Degradation Impurities from MEA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
Appendix Process Design of an Amine Gas Treating Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514
The Contactor Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514
The Overall Dimensions of the Contactor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
Tower Top Conditions and Condenser Duty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
Abstract
Refinery gas treating removes the so called “acid gases” (hydrogen sulfide and
carbon dioxide) from the refinery gas streams. Removal of the acid gases in the
refinery streams is required either to purify a gas stream for further use in a
process or for environmental reasons. This chapter describes the most common
sour gas treating processes. Design techniques are provided for the amine-based
approaches along with a design example.
David S. J. Jones: deceased.
Steven A. Treese has retired from Phillips 66.
D.S.J. Jones
Calgary, AB, USA
S.A. Treese (*)
Puget Sound Investments LLC, Katy, TX, USA
e-mail: streese256@aol.com
# Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
S.A. Treese et al. (eds.), Handbook of Petroleum Processing,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-14529-7_11
499