Steps for Troubleshooting Amine Sweetening Plants

Meeting:                          Spring AIChE Meeting

Austin, TX – April 26^th through April 30^th, 2015

                                              Distillation 2015

Title:                "Steps for Troubleshooting Amine Sweetening Plants"

Authors:     Glenn Shiveler, Sulzer Chemtech USA Inc. – Tulsa, OK

                   Harold Wandke, Sulzer Chemtech USA Inc. – Tulsa, OK

Abstract:   

Amine gas treating (also called “sweetening”) is a well-proven method for removing acid gases from a gas stream, and is commonly used in natural gas plants, petrochemical plants, and refineries.  An amine unit typically consists of two towers—a contactor to allow the selected amine to remove the acid gases, followed by another column that regenerates the amine using a reboiler or direct steam injection, plus the associated heat exchangers.

The proper design and operation of the plant is critical to meet product quality and environmental standards while minimizing operating costs to the plant.  There are multiple potential problems that can result in an underperforming amine sweetening plant, including inadequate hydraulic capacity of the equipment, damaged equipment, non-optimal operating conditions, heat stable salts, and poor amine quality.  Determining the cause of a malfunctioning sweetening plant can be difficult because the investigating engineer can either misdiagnose the root cause of the problem, or fail to identify all of the contributing factors to the primary problem.  Deductive reasoning is a critical element in the review of the potential causes of the problem.

This paper presents a list of recommended steps for performing a thorough investigation of an underperforming amine sweetening plant.  The steps include collecting operating plant data to eliminate unlikely causes and then focusing in on the probable causes based on the plant data.  A discussion of the role of thermal scan and gamma-scan data to diagnose hydraulic problems with the mass transfer equipment is included.  Finally, guidelines for key operational parameters for the safe operation of tray hydraulics and packing capacity will be presented.

Copyright by Sulzer Chemtech USA Inc. – Unpublished

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