Phased investment for H2S removal

Awareness of H2S removal process steps and how they can be combined to
reduce costs compared to the use of a single sweetening unit operation
Jim Abbott and Vince A Row Johnson Matthey Catalysts

regenerable wash system. A number of different

wash solutions can be utilised. For example,
various amines, potassium carbonate and refrigerated methanol and different designs can be
congured for the bulk removal of H2S, CO2 or
both. These wash systems are cost-effective for
the rough sweetening duty, but a number of
disadvantages need to be borne in mind at the
design stage:
Costs increase greatly when wash systems are
used for H2S polishing
Operating upsets can put the product natural
gas out of specication. Reliability is important
It may be costly to design the system to cope
with every possible feed gas variation.
Transmission natural gas pipeline specications
for H2S are typically around 4.0 ppmv maximum.
However, in some sweetening applications, lower

Relative annualised cost

etailed definition of gas processing projects

is often difficult because of uncertainties in
the composition of feedstocks from new
fields
and
in
future
requirements.
Understandably, this has led to process plants
being robust but, in hindsight, over-designed
and unnecessarily expensive. To avoid this, the
benefits of a modular approach to both process
design and phasing investment should be considered. For example, to meet stringent product
specications with varied (or varying) feedstocks,
a single sweetening process may not be the most
cost-effective or even an acceptable option.
This drives designers, licensors and vendors to
minimise equipment and projected operating
costs at the design stage. Combining roughing
(bulk sulphur removal processes) with polishing
(removal of ppmv sulphur levels) has several
economic and reliability advantages. Another way to minimise
1.3
costs is via a phased investment
1.25
approach to project implementation, so that capital is spent only
1.2
when required. Through realistic
1.15
assessment of the project development and the inclusion of
1.1
appropriate civil work and tie-ins,
investment can be delayed, cash
1.05
ow improved and, in some
1.0
instances, unnecessary capital
expenditure avoided. Operators
0.95
may also be able to take advantage of ongoing process and
0.90
product improvements.
0

Integration of sweetening
processes

4
6
H2S exit amine wash, ppmv

10

One of the most widely used Figure 1 Effect of product gas H2S specication on the cost of single-step
sweetening
systems
is
the amine wash sweetening

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Revamps 2008 1

capital and operating costs

rapidly.
Fixed-bed polishing uses highly
#ONDENSER
reactive absorbents to react
chemically and therefore irrevers!CIDGAS
ibly remove low levels of
3OLVENT
COOLER
contaminants from gas and
liquids.
Johnson
Matthey
produces the Puraspec range of
Regenerator
Absorber
absorbents for different duties. In
3ALESGAS
the context of natural gas sweetening, the absorbents have a high
&EEDGAS
capacity for complete H2S removal
2EBOILER
down to very low levels (<0.1
ppmv) at ambient temperatures.
This is cost-effective for inlet
Figure 2 Combined single-stage amine wash and xed-bed absorbent
levels of H2S ranging from 1100
system
ppmv, depending on the gas ow
rate. No services, such as steam
or cooling water, are required,
1.2
and there is no waste or purge
hydrocarbon
stream
needing
1.15
further processing (using Redox,
1.1
Claus or incineration). The spent
absorbent can simply be recycled
1.05
through a metal reprocessing
1.0
plant. By combining a wash
system and xed-bed polishing in
0.95
series, as shown in Figure 2, a
cheaper total process solution can
0.90
be found.
0
Figure 3 shows an example of
0
2
4
6
8
10
the annualised cost for a
H2S exit amine wash, ppmv
combined system, which is
Figure 3 Effect of amine exit H2S ppmv on cost of combined amine wash
designed for a nal H2S specificaand xed-bed absorbent system to produce gas <1.0 ppmv H2S
tion of <1.0 ppmv. The cost is
dependent on the design H2S level
H2S specications (0.51.0 ppmv) are required in the gas, leaving the wash absorber and owing
for other downstream processing reasons. To to the xed bed. The minimum cost at around
guarantee meeting an operating H2S specication, 48 ppmv is where the xed-bed size and
a wash system is often over-designed, incurring absorbent consumption costs balance the extra
wash system costs.
greater capital expense.
When an amine wash solution system is used
Two other benecial features result from this
for sweetening in the polishing range the costs combined conguration. First, it gives much
escalate, as the product H2S specication more exibility to cope with design scenarios
becomes tighter. The typical relationship is with different gas compositions (e.g. from differshown in Figure 1.
ent elds). This may be the case when widely
To achieve very low H2S levels, the regenerated varying levels of H2S and CO2 are anticipated.
wash solution, which is pumped to the top of the Second, and perhaps most importantly, the
absorber, must contain very low H2S levels. This xed-bed absorber provides ultimate assurance
requires a higher reboil heat load and more of nal gas purity. It is becoming more common
stages in the regenerator column, pushing up for gas contracts to severely penalise failure to
Relative annualised cost

Fixed-bed
absorber(s)

Revamps 2008

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sweeten gas properly, either in

terms of penalty payments or
aMDEA
TEG
absorption
dehydration
even by refusal to accept the offspecication gas, which would
probably have to be ared. In
these situations, operating upsets
in wash systems can be very
costly in a short period of time.
This aspect alone can justify the
Dry sour gas
from gas/NGL
inclusion of a xed-bed absorber
separation
downstream, which will simply
Sweet
sales gas
mop up any H2S breakthrough
Gas polishing
from such an incident.
reactor
Amine
Membrane sweetening systems
regeneration
can also be favourably integrated
with xed-bed polishing. In natural gas treating, membranes can Figure 4 Gas sweetening with combined amine and xed-bed absorber
be used to separate CO2 and H2S
from hydrocarbons in one or two stages. Relative This was sized on a minimum inventory and
to wash systems, the economics of using Capex basis. The design was tightened to give
membranes generally become more favourable the lowest possible absorbent volume, and it is
for greater levels of CO2 removal. Another advan- only required to be placed in operation when
tage is that water is removed to give a product there is an upset to the amine system offshore,
stream, which is essentially dry, in a single which is anticipated to happen occasionally.
processing step. However, there is little that can
be done in any given situation to vary the rela- Case study 2: Flexible integrated amine wash
tive quantities of CO2 and H2S removed by and xed-bed process
permeation through the membrane. For instance, A combined activated-MDEA, TEG dehydration
if significant extra CO2 must be extracted to meet and xed-bed polishing system was installed by
the nal H2S specication, this can be costly both Mobil Sage, Scotland, to remove H2S down to
in terms of provision of extra membrane modules <3.3 ppmv, while simultaneously controlling
and hydrocarbon losses. This is, again, where a sales gas CO2 content to <4.0% (Figure 4).
The plant was designed to process any of four
series conguration of membranes followed by
xed-bed polishing can pay off. As the gas is dry, different feed gases or a mixture. Inlet concentrait is important to use a chemical absorbent, tions of H2S varied from 250 ppmv, while the
which functions effectively in the absence of CO2 level in the feed gas ranged from 4.510.5%.
water vapour. The following case studies illus- The MDEA absorber was only designed to handle
trate the integration of sweetening unit the fraction of full production gas ow, which,
operations.
when combined with the gas bypassing the
absorber, yields the required sales gas CO2
Case study 1: Installation of xed-bed backup content. This gas must be polished to bring it
to wash system
within H2S specication. The absorber is also
Gas from a new eld is to be processed through provided with multiple injection points so that at
an offshore platform by a North Sea gas low production rates all the gas can be processed
producer. The gas is sour and is to be sweetened through the absorber to remove H2S while not
offshore using an amine wash system to give a exceeding the required removal of CO2. This
satisfactorily low H2S level (<1.0 ppmv) before project is described in more detail in Reference 1.
pipeline transmission to the onshore terminal.
The operator was worried that if there was an Case study 3: Integration of membranes and
upset or non-operation of the wash system it xed-bed polishing
would impossible to ow gas, and therefore Boral Energy Resources Ltd operates a small gas
decided to invest in an onshore polishing bed. eld at Beharra Springs, 350 km north of Perth,

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Revamps 2008 3

Design basis of ENI/Agips

xed-bed absorbent system, Italy

Lead/lag
system

2AWGAS

Fixed-bed
absorbent
reactors

#/  RICHGAS
TOFLARE

-EMBRANE
UNIT

Fixed-bed
absorbent
reactors

3WEET
SALESGAS

Figure 5 Integration of membranes and xed-bed polishing

Operating conditions of xed-bed unit, Beharra Springs, Australia
Gas composition
%v/v
H2S inlet
Methane
92.70
Design
C2-C5
2.40
Actual
Nitrogen
0.90
Outlet
CO2
4.00
Flow rate Up to 28 000 Nm3/h (25 million scfd)
Temperature
40C (104F)
Pressure
70 bar (1015 psia)

Table 1

Western Australia. Raw gas contains 56% CO2

and 810 ppmv H2S that necessitates some treatment before transmission down a dedicated
pipeline to an industrial customer near Perth.
The rst purication stage is a carbon bed to
remove polycyclic aromatics (PCAs) to prevent
fouling of downstream membrane materials.
This is followed by the membrane separator,
which produces a permeate stream rich in CO2,
which is burned, while reducing the CO2 in the
product stream to less than the 4.0%
specication. The membrane unit also reduces
the H2S to 56 ppmv, but further removal is
needed to achieve the product specication of
<3.2 ppmv. This is provided by a xed-bed unit
(Figure 5) operating under the conditions shown
in Table 1.
This unit has been in service since 1993. H2S is
completely removed from gas passing through
the absorbent beds and the bypass valve is
adjusted to ensure export gas always meets

4 Revamps 2008

8 ppmv
56 ppmv
3.0 ppmv

Gas composition
Carbon dioxide
Hydrogen sulphide
Water
C1C3 hydrocarbons
Flow rate

Temperature
Pressure
Required outlet H2S

%v/v
84.86
0.95
5.99
8.20
16 800 Nm3/d
(625 000 scfd)
140C (284F)
1.6 bar (23 psia)
<10 ppmv

Table 2

specication, while absorbent

consumption
is
minimised.
Typically, 3540% of the gas
stream is treated. Operation has
been reliable and trouble free,
demonstrating the suitability of
these technologies to remote
locations, including offshore,
where there are limitations on
space,
weight
and
labour
availability.2

Case study 4: Integration of

liquid redox system with
xed-bed absorbent
ENI/Agip produces oil and associated gas in an environmentally sensitive area
in northern Italy. The gas processing train uses
amine treatment for acid gas removal. The CO2rich gas is separated and passes through a liquid
redox system for H2S removal, after which it is
mixed with an equal volume of fuel gas and
burned before going to atmosphere (Figure 6).
Mechanical problems in the sulphur separation
area caused unacceptable unreliability, with loss
of production of 10 000 m3/d (63 000 bpd) of
oil and 663 000 Nm3/d (25 million scfd) of associated gas. Therefore, in 1996, the operator
installed a xed-bed absorbent system to serve
as backup to the redox unit. This decision was
made because of the costs of production interruptions and the simplicity, exibility, ease of
commissioning and reliability of the xed-bed
system. The design basis, which corresponds to
the removal of 228 kg (500 lb) of sulphur per
day, is shown in Table 2.
The xed-bed unit was installed during 1997

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and rst put into service because

of a breakdown in the redox
system for seven days in April
1998. It was required to remove
195 kg S/d (430 lb/d) under
conditions similar to design.
Outlet H2S concentration was
below 1.0 ppmv compared with
the normal 56 ppmv provided by
the redox system. All the operators requirements were met in
terms of operability and efciency.
When the redox system is available, the xed-bed unit is bypassed
to remain on standby until it is
next needed.

Redox
system
Product gas

Amine
system

Sulphur
Acid gas

Raw gas

Oil/gas
separator
Fuel
gas
Oil

Phased investment can produce

major savings
Figure 6 Integration of liquid redox and xed-bed polishing
For the development of new gas
elds, a design basis needs to be
Details on three of the larger Puraspec reactors in the UK
set on the best information available during the early stages of the
Gas flow, million
Number of beds Design life, Start-up Actual number
project. There can often be great
3
scfd
(million
Nm
/d)
and
size, ft3 (m3)
days
date
of change-outs
uncertainty surrounding the gas
1400 (38)
2 x 4600 (2 x 130)
100
1989
1
composition due to the limited
850 (23)
4 x 2800 (2 x 79)
90
1993
0
amount of test well data, and
1800 (48)
4 x 4200 (2 x 119)
55
1997
1
there is a natural tendency to
specify higher levels of sulphur to Table 3
ensure a robust design is
produced.
30% of the absorbent was found to be unused
Rather than installing a xed-bed reactor and was not removed from the reactor. Design
system designed to cope with the peak case of data had indicated that the bed would only last
the eld production prole, a modular approach for four months.
can be adopted to delay capital expenditure on
In reality, some of the original absorbent is
vessels until they are proven to be required.
expected to last for more than ten years, and the
The original design concept for NAMs Den second phase of capital investment will never be
Helder gas plant in the Netherlands called for a needed. This scenario has been repeated with
two-vessel lead-lag system. Each bed was to more than 100 Puraspec reactors around the
contain 4400 ft3 (125 m3) of absorbent, to treat world. Table 3 shows some of the larger units in
260 million scfd (7 million Nm3/d) gas from two the UK alone.
new offshore platforms. Several other options
With the benet of hindsight, these plants have
were considered, but the decision was taken to been vastly over-designed. Installations can be
install just a single vessel containing 2200 ft3 (63 made more compact by designing for the lower
m3) absorbent for the initial operation of the end of the expected range of sulphur content in
plant, with the foundations and tie-ins being the feed gas. Then, if needed, an extra module
provided for a second vessel installation at a can be added later. The development of new
later date.
absorbents and improved reactor designs with
Monitoring of the performance of the bed tightened design margins can also help. For
showed that it would last much longer than instance, a 2200 ft3 (62 m3) reactor has recently
expected. In 1995, two years after commission- been installed to treat a 425 million scfd (11.5
ing, the vessel was opened for inspection. Around million Nm3/d) sales gas polishing duty.

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Revamps 2008 5

If the projections of sulphur quantities are

much too high, this also leads to gross over-estimates of the operating costs, which are directly
proportional to the actual amount of sulphur
that needs to be removed. A xed-bed absorbent
system can meet a very precise product
specication, without the need to waste any
excess material. With absolute condence in the
performance predictions of Puraspec absorbents,
signicant savings in capital cost can be achieved.
In contrast, it is impossible to avoid overdosing
with liquid scavengers, so the efficiency of their
use can be as low as 1030% of theoretical.

Conclusion
History has repeatedly shown that there is a
tendency to overestimate the H2S sweetening
requirements for new projects and that money
can often be saved by installing the minimum
equipment inventory to allow the project to operate in the early stages, with the exibility to add
more later if required. Similarly, there are very
many different gas sweetening scenarios, each
with a different optimum process solution.
Awareness of different sweetening process steps
and how they may be combined in any situation
can lead to capital and operating cost savings
over the use of a single sweetening unit
operation.

6 Revamps 2008

Puraspec (PURASPEC) is a mark of the Johnson Matthey group of

companies.
References
1 Carnell P J H, Joslln K W, Woodham P R, Fixed bed Processes
Provide Flexibility for COS, H2S Removal, Oil and Gas Journal, 5
June 1995.
2 Heinemann S B, Woodward C, paper at OSEA 96 Conference,
Singapore, September 1996.
Jim Abbott is GTL Technology Specialist with Johnson Matthey
Catalysts in Billingham, Cleveland, UK. Since 2002, he has focused
on delivering the application of Synetixs syngas technology
for gas-to-liquids. Abbotts areas of expertise also includes gas
treating and purification. He holds a BA in chemical engineering
from Cambridge University, England.
Email: jim.abbott@matthey.com
Vince A Row is Global Product Manager for the gas processing
and refineries business of Johnson Matthey Catalysts. Row is a
Chartered Chemical Engineer and holds an MBA from Durham
University, UK.

Links
More articles from: Johnson Matthey Catalysts
More articles from the following category:
Catalysts & Additives
Desulphurisation & Sulphur Handling

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