SWEETENING TECHNOLOGIES – A LOOK AT THE WHOLE PICTURE

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Marco Bergel , Ignacio Tierno

1. TECNA Estudios y Proyectos de Ingeniería S.A.

Keywords: 1. Sweetening; 2. Carbon dioxide; 3. Acid gas; 4. Amines; 5. Membranes.

1 Background

Nowadays, a wide variety of gas sweetening technologies is commercially available: different

chemical and physical solvents, membranes, regenerable adsorbents, among others . Many have their own
niche, but there are still cases where different technologies compete for a same application. Combining
processes can even produce better results.

To answer the question: “which method fits the project requirements best?”, one should also
consider the whole gas processing scheme and site conditions, and not only the sweetening technology
itself.

The present paper analyses sweetening technologies available to treat natural gas with a high
carbon dioxide (CO2) content, considering the integration of sweetening facilities with different gas
processing schemes and under different site conditions:
- downstream processing of sweet gas: cryogenic processes, NGL recovery, power generation or
injection into pipeline
- acid gas disposal method: venting or reinjection
- energy costs
- inlet gas pressure and CO2 content
- CO2 specification
- power availability, remoteness of location

Most selection guidelines focus on the sweetening process and consider it as an isolated facility.
However, this paper shows the best choice should arise from a thorough analysis of the complete gas
processing scheme. Throughout the following pages the factors that influence sweetening technology
selection will be addressed.

2 Introduction

Design of an efficient and competitive processing scheme is a crucial stage in the development of
gas fields. In that context, the sweetening unit plays a leading role due to the wide variety of technologies for
CO2 removal currently available. Amongst them, chemical and physical solvents, membranes and
regenerable adsorbents stand out. The process engineer faces then the challenge of selecting the
technology that best fits the project needs.

This work proposes a critical analysis of the traditional selection tools for removal of acid gases,
suggesting an alternative approach that contemplates the project as a whole together with external factors,
besides the characteristics of the gas to be treated. Additionally, the flexibility of the main technologies to
deal with gradual changes in CO2 content specifications is analyzed.

3 Sweetening technologies

There are several technologies commercially available to treat acid gases. Some of them are based
upon the absorption of CO2 by means of a chemical or physical solvent and its subsequent desorption,
others use the difference in permeability through a material of natural gas components. These differences in
the removal mechanism determine the main advantages and disadvantages thereof.

For the purpose of briefly describing each of them, sweetening technologies can be classified
according to the following table: