Amine gas treating, also known as amine scrubbing, gas sweetening and acid gas removal, refers to a group of processes that use aqueous solutions of various alkylamines (commonly referred to simply as amines) to remove hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and carbon dioxide (CO2) from gases.[1][2][3] It is a common unit process used in refineries, and is also used in petrochemical plants, natural gas processing plants and other industries.
Processes within oil refineries or chemical processing plants that remove Hydrogen Sulfide are referred to as "sweetening" processes because the odor of the processed products is improved by the absence of "sour" hydrogen sulfide. An alternative to the use of amines involves membrane technology. However, membrane separation is less attractive due to the relatively high capital and operating costs as well as other technical factors.[4]
Many different amines are used in gas treating:
- Diethanolamine (DEA)
- Monoethanolamine (MEA)
- Methyldiethanolamine (MDEA)
- Diisopropanolamine (DIPA)
- Aminoethoxyethanol (Diglycolamine) (DGA)
The most commonly used amines in industrial plants are the alkanolamines DEA, MEA, and MDEA. These amines are also used in many oil refineries to remove sour gases from liquid hydrocarbons such as liquified petroleum gas (LPG).
- ^ Arthur Kohl; Richard Nielson (1997). Gas Purification (5th ed.). Gulf Publishing. ISBN 0-88415-220-0.
- ^ Gary, J.H.; Handwerk, G.E. (1984). Petroleum Refining Technology and Economics (2nd ed.). Marcel Dekker, Inc. ISBN 0-8247-7150-8.
- ^ US 4080424, Loren N. Miller & Thomas S. Zawacki, "Process for acid gas removal from gaseous mixtures", issued 21 Mar 1978, assigned to Institute of Gas Technology
- ^ Baker, R. W. (2002). "Future Directions of Membrane Gas Separation Technology". Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 41 (6): 1393–1411. doi:10.1021/ie0108088.