Notes on Amine Operation & Foaming References Gas Purification, Arthur L Kohl & Richard Neilson, 5th ed.

. Amine plant troubleshooting and optimisation, RFG Abry & RS DuPart, Hydrocarbon Processing April 1995 Causes of foaming: Amine has a natural tendency to foam anyway, some types more so than others Hydrocarbon from the feed gas, either condensation or poor inlet separation Particles of corrosion products (FeS), or carbon fines etc. Too much or too little antifoam, well treatment fluids, corrosion inhibitors Oil from equipment (not cleaned after commissioning or turnaround) HSS build up Symptoms 1 DCS trending of traffic lights to detect foaming Liquid found in downstream acid gas KO drum Sudden change in level in reflux drum, absorber bottoms, regenerator bottoms, flash drum Loss of amine inventory (large loss only) Hydrocarbon increase in acid gas (to sulphur unit) High concentration of amine in reflux drum (normally should be <1%) Increased of fluctuating pressure drop in absorber or regenerator Loss of H2S removal efficiency (with increase in CO2 removal) Off specification treated gas Symptoms 2 - other indicators of foaming Laboratory test for foaming tendency Lean amine not stripped well HSS (contributes to corrosion and foaming) Colour check of amine dark implies lots of particles Amine filter frequency of blockage implies heavy presence of FeS and ongoing erosioncorrosion Prevention Temperature difference between lean amine and feed gas is not sufficient to avoid hydrocarbon condensation (lean amine should be 6-10C hotter than feed gas temperature, but dew point needs to be checked by checking the full range and especially the tail of the feed gas) Gas inlet separation/coalescer Proper decontamination of equipment prior to use (line cleaning, flushing, soda ash wash) Carbon & mechanical filtration keep on top of filter changeouts, minimise time when filtration is not available (predict and plan for changeouts), maximise filtration flow (normally this is specified as 10% of lean amine flow however this is a bare minimum and 15-20% is advisable or even 100% as per the note below) Minimise or limit antifoam use most plants still benefit from a shot a day (anyway the antifoam ends up being collected on the activated carbon thereby both removing it from the point of application and also using up the carbon bed capacity) Ensure that velocities in piping are below the erosion/corrosion limit (during design, also a consideration during revamping/debottlenecking or any extension of the plant operating envelop) Kohl p132 explores the role of phosphoric acid Kohl p155 Removal of mercaptans by MEA or DEA is small, <50%. DGA appears to be better. (From other references mercaptans are mainly removal by physical adsorption processes in amine so not very well - MDEA is worse than MEA as it is less basic, sulfinol-X might be reasonable.) (For complete removal of CS2, COS, RSH a downstream caustic wash would be necessary.)

Oxygen increase in amine storage tank will lead to the formation of HSS and should be avoided. Use activated carbon that has been acid washed? Kohl p226 for foaming prevention: Full stream filtration may be required for MDEA with low H2S/CO2 ratios Skimming facilities for o absorber sump o rich amine flash drum o regenerator sump (?) o regenerator overheads accumulator More about lean amine temperature and hydrocarbon condensation (no mention of BTX absorption however) Ion exchange works for the removal of HSS, but not for non-ionised amine degradation products Kohl p121 Absorber thermal effects the heat of reaction increases the amine temperature towards the bottom of the absorber so hydrocarbon condensation is more of an issue at the top of the column where the gas is more or less the same temperature as the incoming lean amine. Hence the lean amine temperature must be > the gas dewpoint when adjusted for water saturation and bulk removal of H2S & CO2 (with a suitable margin)