FLEXSORB® SE Solvent Retrofit
Removes H2S in Natural Gas Production
Situation
A mid-continent area gas plant opera-
tor processes natural gas from a
storage field to remove H2S before
pipeline sales. The operator was
experiencing difficulty in meeting a
specification of 8 vppm, and wanted
to achieve a reduction to less than
4.0 vppm. More throughput was
required to meet anticipated demand,
and increased profits through lower
operating expenses were desired.
Problem
The current DIPA-based hybrid system
was unable to achieve the desired
product H2S specification of <4 vppm,
and was therefore capacity limited in a
period of high sales demand. Along
with other competitors, Nalco was
contacted and asked to submit a
proposal based on a natural gas feed
rate of 510 MSCFD with 640 vppm
H2S and 1% CO2. The current system
was able to achieve treated gas
specification with a feed rate of 400
MSCFD and H2S concentration of 600
vppm. Circulation rate of the hybrid
solvent was 460 gpm. Inlet gas pressure
was 920 psig. The customer preferred
to keep as many of his current vessels
as possible to reduce equipment costs.
Solution
After determining the customer’s
requirements, Nalco applied
customer-supplied unit physical and
operating data to proprietary
software in order to determine the
best solution for the situation.
Modeling determined that a
FLEXSORB product would be an
excellent retrofit for this applica-
tion, meeting the customer’s
requirements for a low capital cost
conversion while achieving lower
emissions and higher throughput of
H2S. FLEXSORB SE, a patented,
highly selective hindered amine, was
chosen as the right solution for this
application. The recommended
concentration of FLEXSORB SE
was 15 weight percent. The
customer’s vessels were deter-
mined to be of adequate size for
the retrofit, which reduced the
engineering complexity and cost of
the application. The unit was
converted to FLEXSORB SE and
started up. Minimal startup prob-
lems were seen in this application.
(Continued on Reverse Side)
Case Study CH-657
Table 1 summarizes the comparison Table 1 – Selective H2S Removal From Natural Gas
data obtained before and conversion Solvent Conventional Hybrid FLEXSORB SE
to FLEXSORB SE. Natural Gas Rate, MSCFD 400 510
Feed H2S, vol% 0.06 0.06
Feed CO2, vol% 1.0 1.0
Results Pressure, psig 935 935
Table 1 summarizes the comparison Solvent Rate, gpm 460 300
data obtained before and conversion Reboiler Duty, MBTU/hr 19 14.8
to FLEXSORB SE. Treated Gas H2S, vppm 4 2
Treated Gas CO2, vol% 0.70 0.85
Comments: FLEXSORB SE gives higher treating capacity and improved operability
Conclusions especially lower coabsorption of hydrocarbons

FLEXSORB SE met or exceeded

customer expectations on this
retrofit application. Actual product
H2S content is typically below
2.0 vppm. Acid gas volume from the
regenerator unit to the Sulfur
Recovery Unit is lower than antici-
pated due to the highly selective
nature of FLEXSORB SE, which
results in lower CO2 coabsorption.
The excellent performance of
FLEXSORB SE enable the customer
to achieve a rapid return on invest-
ment by maintaining a high quality
product despite increased feed
volumes and H2S levels. Also, the unit
operates smoothly with no reported
outages due to foaming or excessive
coabsorption of hydrocarbons.

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