Natural gas purification using MDEA solution systems
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Natural gas purification using an MDEA solution system; the MDEA system is designed to handle a natural gas flow rate of 50 million cubic feet per day, with the hydrogen sulfide content in the feed gas being ≤1% according to the design specifications. In actual operation at present, the hydrogen sulfide content in the feed gas is just over 1.01%. The unit is not currently operating at full capacity. Let’s discuss how much the fact that the hydrogen sulfide content in the feed gas exceeds the design limit by 0.1% affects natural gas purification
The absorption capacity of the MDEA solution may not be sufficient to completely remove all hydrogen sulfide, resulting in a relatively high hydrogen sulfide content in the purified natural gas.
Are there any adjustment measures for this?
The issue of excessive design leading to higher equipment load can be resolved by increasing the concentration of the MDEA solution and raising the number of stages at which the lean liquid enters the tower
Increasing the circulation volume of the lean liquid slightly, or raising the regeneration temperature a bit, is completely no problem
Normal designs include a margin of safety; exceeding 10% of the processing capacity should not be a problem. Moreover, the flow rate of lean or semi-lean liquid can be controlled during production adjustments to address this issue, and increasing the regeneration temperature is also an option