Absorber Tower

Related terms:

Absorbers, Towers, Flue Gas, Hydrogen Sulfide, Sulfur Dioxide, Acid Gas-
, Ethanolamine, Higher Temperature

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Learn more about Absorber Tower

Materials of Construction (Including

Insulation)
Trevor Kletz, in What Went Wrong? (Fifth Edition), 2009

28.5 Corrosion Sends a Column into Orbit

Corrosion occurred in an absorber tower, 18 m (60 ft) tall and 2.6 m (8.5 ft)
in diameter, in which liquid monoethanolamine removed hydrogen sulfide from
gaseous propane and butane. After four years of service, the base of the column was
replaced without any postwelding heat treatment. Two years later, a Monel liner was
fitted to reduce corrosion but it did not cover the repair weld. After another eight
years, a circumferential crack formed. In places it extended nine-tenths of the way
through the 1-in. thick wall. Once it broke through, it grew rapidly and the upper
part of the column landed over a kilometer away (see Figure 28-1). The escaping
gas was ignited, perhaps by a welder's torch, and exploded. Gasoline tanks were
damaged and the contents ignited; the flames impinged on a liquefied petroleum
gas tank, which ruptured, producing a boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion
(BLEVE). Seventeen people were killed and damage was extensive.
Figure 28-1. The result of an absorber failure. From reference 18.

(Reprinted with the permission of Gulf Professional Publishing.)

The investigation showed that the welding of the new bottom section, without
any postwelding heat treatment, had produced a hard microstructure that was
susceptible to hydrogen attack and brittle failure [14–16].

Unfortunately, as so often happens, the published reports give no indication of the

underlying reasons for the managerial failings. Did the company have any material
scientists on its staff? Did it hire an inexperienced contractor and leave it to him
or her? Did the senior managers believe that every welder is capable of welding
everything? The incident is a warning to companies who think that knowledge and
experience are inessential luxuries, that it is okay to be a naïve client and leave
everything to a contractor. Elsewhere [17] I have described many accidents that
occurred, from the nineteenth century to the present day, because companies placed
too much trust in contractors.

Stress corrosion cracking is common in amine gas absorption columns. Reference

18 recommends polymer coating of construction materials.

> Read full chapter

Products and Economics

Reza Sadeghbeigi, in Fluid Catalytic Cracking Handbook (Third Edition), 2012

Dry Gas
Dry gas is defined as the C2 and lighter gases that are produced in the FCC unit.
Often the fuel gas stream leaving the sponge oil or secondary absorber tower is also
referred to as “dry gas” despite its containing H2S, inert gases, and C3+ components.
Once the gas is amine-treated for the removal of H2S and other acid gases, it
is usually blended into the refinery fuel gas system. Depending on the volume
percent of hydrogen in the dry gas, some refiners will recover this hydrogen using
processes such as cryogenics, pressure-swing absorption, or membrane separation.
This recovered hydrogen is typically used in hydrotreating processes.

Dry gas is an undesirable by-product of the FCC unit; excessive yields load up the
WGC, limiting the unit’s feed rate and/or severity. The dry gas yield correlates with
the feed quality, thermal cracking reactions, concentration of metals in the feed,
and the amount of post-riser nonselective catalytic cracking reactions. The primary
factors which contribute to the increase of dry gas production are as follows:

• Increase in the concentration of metals (nickel, copper, vanadium, and so on)

on the catalyst
• Increase in reactor or regenerator temperatures

• Increase in the residence time of hydrocarbon vapors in the reactor

• Decrease in the performance of the feed nozzles (for the same unit conversion)

• Increase in the aromaticity of the feed.

When examining the chromatograph analysis of the sponge absorber off-gas, one
must pay special attention to the concentrations of C3+ components, as well as the
amount of inert gases (N2, CO2, CO, O2).

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FLEXSORB ®SE A Proven Reliable Acid

Gas Enrichment Solvent
L.E. Parks, ... R. Fedich, in Proceedings of the 2nd Annual Gas Processing Sympo-
sium, 2010

2 What levels of enrichment are possible?

The level of H2S enrichment depends on several factors including the H2S concen-
tration in the feed gas, the H2S specification in the treated gas, process operating
temperatures, the design of the AGE absorber tower internals, and of course, the
selective solvent selection. Higher processing temperatures may require increased
lean amine circulation rates to ensure that the H2S specification in the treated gas
is met. Increased lean amine circulation rate generally reduces selectivity. Similarly,
a tight specification for residual H2S in the treated gas (CO2 rich) stream may also
require higher lean amine circulation rates or greater mass transfer contacting area,
both of which will directionally reduce selectivity.

The design of the tower internals influences the mass transfer rates and H2S selec-
tivity as highlighted by Weiland. ExxonMobil has found that tray columns generally
provide better selectivity than packed columns in AGE service. One of the reasons is
that in a tray column, the mass transfer parameters can be finely tuned by adjusting
the number of liquid passes, weir heights and open area on the trays. It is also
easier to provide multiple lean amine inlets in a tray column for optimizing the
mass transfer zone, thereby providing operators with additional flexibility to meet
changing gas feed compositions.

To successfully achieve the AGE treating goals of a low H2S content in the treated
gas and maximum CO2 slip requires a solid base of supporting data and careful
engineering. Table 1 below, illustrates the range of H2S enrichment that can be
achieved using FLEXSORB SE or SE PLUS solvent in a single enrichment step.

Table 1. Examples of H2S enrichment

Project A B C D
Inlet H2S, mol% 4.0 14.7 21.9 32.1
(wet)
Enriched H2S, 41.5 51.4 59.5 75.3
mol% (wet)

At very low levels of H2S in the AGR acid gas, two consecutive stages of enrichment
can be used. Alternatively, a recycle of AGE enriched acid gas back to the AGE
absorber inlet can be used to achieve sufficiently high levels of H2S in the Claus
feed.

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Power generation fundamentals

Stephen A. Rackley, in Carbon Capture and Storage (Second Edition), 2017
Wet scrubbing flue gas desulfurization process
The most common method for SO2 removal, or flue gas desulfurization (FGD), is a
wet limestone process in which a CaCO3 slurry is sprayed into a countercurrent flow
of hot flue gas in an absorber tower. The alkaline solid reacts with the acid gas to
produce calcium sulfite according to the reaction:

Absorption:

(3.16)

Air can also be blown into the absorber to oxidize the sulfite to sulfate:

Oxidation:

(3.17)

This results in the unwanted pollutant being converted into a useful product,
gypsum, which is marketed for use in the building industry. Other alkaline sorbents,
such as magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)2), can also be used. In this case the resulting
MgSO4 is regenerated by heating and sulfuric acid is produced as a marketable end
product:

Absorption:

(3.18)

Oxidation:

(3.19)

Precipitation:

(3.20)

Regeneration:

(3.21)

(3.22)

Slaking:

(3.23)
Wet scrubbing FGD can achieve 99% SOx removal, and the wet limestone process,
producing gypsum, is expected to be the dominant technology for new-built plant
in view of the ease of disposal of the end product.

Electron beam FGD

A novel FGD approach uses a high-powered electron beam to ionize the main
components of the flue gas stream (N2, O2, H2O, CO2) in an irradiation chamber.
The resulting ionic species (N, O, OH, and HO2) react with SO2 to produce sulfuric
acid:

(3.24)

(3.25)

(3.26)

where M is any inert molecule. Ammonia is sprayed into the flue gas upstream of
the chamber and reacts with sulfuric acid to form ammonium sulfate:

(3.27)

The resulting solid product is collected using electrostatic precipitation and is also
marketable, in this case as a fertilizer.

An electron beam FGD installation on the 200 MWth EPS Pomorzany power plant at
Szczecin in Poland uses electrons accelerated to an energy of 700 keV and a total
beam power of 1.04 MW to treat 135,000 Nm3/h of flue gas, with an SO2 removal
efficiency of 90%–95%.

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Air Pollution Control

Dipak K. Sarkar, in Thermal Power Plant, 2015

14.4.2 Spray dry scrubber

Lime (CaO) is normally used as a sorbent in a spray dry scrubber. Prior to spraying
into the absorber CaO is hydrated to Ca(OH)2. Hydrated lime is directly injected as
spray into the absorber tower, where moisture is evaporated by the heat of flue gas.
SO2 and SO3 in flue gas react with hydrated lime within the absorber tower to form
a dry mixture of calcium sulphate/sulphite. SO2 removal efficiency of a spray dry
scrubber falls within 90 and 95%. It is the second most widely used process to arrest
SO2.

The advantages of this process are:

1. Compared with the wet system, the dry system technique is simpler

2. Disposal of dry, powdery waste material is less complicated

3. Absence of wastewater treatment plant

4. Less expensive than wet scrubber

5. Recycle of spray-dryer solids can partly improve sorbent utilization

The disadvantages are:

1. Operational costs are higher

2. Efficiency of dry scrubber is less than that of wet scrubber

3. Suitable for units firing medium to low sulfur coal

4. Flue-gas volume handling capacity of dry scrubber tower is limited; hence,

from techno-economic consideration this process is not viable to be adopted
in large coal-fired power plants that would require several modules of such
tower

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Dehydration of Natural Gas

John Carroll, in Natural Gas Hydrates (Third Edition), 2014

6.2.2.2 The Contactor

The contactor (also called an absorber) is the workhorse of the dehydration unit. It
is in the contactor that the gas and liquid are mixed and the actual water removal
takes place.

The contactor is a typical absorber tower properly sized with the process objective
in mind. The feed gas flow rate is the most significant factor in determining
the diameter of the contactor. The outlet gas water content specification is the key
to determine the contactor height, although other factors contribute as well. The
contactor is made up of a number of equilibrium stages, enough to ensure mass
transfer from the gas phase to the liquid is such that the outlet gas is at the desired
water specification. The actual stages could be either (1) trays like bubble caps, valve
trays, or sieve trays or (2) a suitable packing material. Structured packing is finding
more acceptance in glycol contactors.

The contactor operates by the fundamental principles of an absorber. The flow of

streams is countercurrent. Feed gas enters the bottom of the contactor and flows
upward. Lean solvent enters the top of the contactor and flows downwards. The
solvent absorbs water as it travels downward through the column and the gas
transfers the water to the solvent as it travels upward.

The contactor pressure is set by the feed gas pressure, which is normally in the range
of 4000–8500 kPa (600–1200 psia). The contactor is essentially isothermal; that is,
the temperature profile is essentially uniform throughout the contactor.

> Read full chapter

Gas Sweetening
Maurice I. StewartJr. PhD, PE, in Surface Production Operations (Third Edition),
Volume 2, 2014

9.7.2 Stretford Process

9.7.2.1 General Discussion

The Stretford process uses O2 to oxidize H2S. It was originally licensed by the British
Gas Corporation and is no longer in use.

9.7.2.2 Process Description

Figure 9.6 shows a simplified diagram of the Stretford process. The gas stream
is washed with an aqueous solution of sodium carbonate, sodium vanadate, and
anthraquinone disulfonic. An oxidized solution is delivered from the pumping tank
to the top of the absorber tower where it contacts the gas stream in a counter-current
flow.
Figure 9.6. Simplified flow schematic of the Stretford process.

The bottom of the absorber tower consists of a reaction tank from which the reduced
solution passes to the solution flash drum, which is situated above the oxidizer. The
reduced solution passes from here into the base of the oxidizer vessel. Hydrocarbon
gases, which have been dissolved in the solution at the plant pressure, are released
from the top of the flash drum.

Air is blown into the oxidizer, and the main body of the solution, now reoxidized,
passes into the pumping tank. The sulfur is carried to the top of the oxidizer by froth
created by the aeration of the solution and passes into the thickener.

The function of the thickener is to increase the weight percent of sulfur that is
pumped to one of the alternate sulfur recovery methods of filtration, filtration and
autoclaves, centrifugation or centrifugation with heating.

Chemical reactions involved are:

Sodium carbonate provides the alkaline solution for initial adsorption of H2S and
the formation of hydrosulfide (HS). The hydrosulfide is reduced in a reaction with
sodium meta vanadate to precipitate sulfur

Anthraquinone disulfonic acid (ADA) reacts with 4-valent vanadium and converts it
back to 5-valent

Oxygen from the air converts the reduced ADA back to the oxidized state as shown
below:

The overall reaction is

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Hybrid Models for Monitoring & Op-
timization of Hydrocarbon Separation
Equipment
Vladimir Mahalec, ... Yoel Sanchez, in Proceedings of the 2nd Annual Gas Processing
Symposium, 2010

3.1 Selection of Independent Variables for Product Quality Pre-

diction
Crude feedstocks are characterized by their distillation curves. In this work tru boiling
point (TBP) curves are used, since other distillation curves can be readily converted
to TBP curves. For instance, if crude is fed into a 10 stage absorber tower, then the
distillation curves of the feed and the products can be as shown in Fig. 1. If separation
in the distillation tower was perfect, then the distillation curves of the products would
be sections of the feed distillation curves. Each product distillation curve would start
at its front-end cut point and would end at its back-end cut point. However, since the
separation is not perfect, there is an overlap between the adjacent product streams.
Operating and design variables (internal reflux, number of stages, relative volatility)
influence the product quality. Hence, a hybrid model will use:

Figure 1. Cutpoints and product 50% points on TBP curve define pseudocompo-
nents

• Feed cutpoint temperatures

• Relative volatility

• Internal reflux
as independent variables to predict distillation curves of the product streams in a
tower with a given number of stages.

In order to use relative volatility we need to define key components for each sepa-
ration cut. Since petroleum separations are not sharp, the components are distrib-
uted between adjacent products. Hence, to represent distribution of components,
this study uses relative volatility between the pseudocomponents corresponding to
the middle of the product LV% range and the adjacent cutpoint. For separation
presented in Fig. 1, there are five pseudocomponents that will be used to develop
hybrid model; they correspond to cutpoint 1, cutpoint 2, and 50% points of the
three product streams. Then the relative volatilities are calculated according to the
following expressions:

(1)

where ki is the equilibrium constant of pseudocomponent i.

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Absorption capture systems

Stephen A. Rackley, in Carbon Capture and Storage (Second Edition), 2017

Ammonia-based chemical absorption

A flue gas CO2 capture process using a chilled slurry of dissolved and suspended
ammonium carbonate and ammonium bicarbonate in ammonia has been developed
by Alstom Power Systems (now GE Power) and the Electric Power Research Institute
(EPRI).

The system uses a typical absorber tower configuration, operating at near-freezing

conditions (0–10°C), in which cooled flue gas flows upward in countercurrent to
the absorbent slurry. The low operating temperature allows high CO2 loading of the
solvent slurry and reduces “ammonia slip”—the carryover of entrained ammonia
droplets and suspended solids with the clean flue gas exiting the tower. Ammonia
slip is further reduced by a cold water wash of the cleaned flue gas, which consists
mainly of nitrogen, excess oxygen, and a low residual concentration of CO2.

The solvent slurry regenerator operates at temperatures >120°C and pressures

>2 MPa. Ammonia slip on regeneration is also controlled by water washing, yield-
ing a high-pressure CO2 stream with low moisture and ammonia content. This
high-pressure regeneration has the advantage of reducing the energy requirement
for subsequent compression and delivery of the CO2 product stream for storage. The
flow scheme of the CAP is shown in Figure 6.7.

Figure 6.7. CAP flow scheme.

As part of an extensive development program, proof-of-concept pilot testing at

a 15 kt-CO2/year scale demonstrated the capabilities of the technology and was
followed by two larger scale pilot projects: a 30 MWe slip-stream test at AEP’s 1.3 GW
coal-fired Mountaineer plant in West Virginia (Figure 6.8 and video tour of the plant
in Resources), capturing up to 110 kt-CO2/year with storage on-site at the plant in the
Mount Simon Sandstone saline aquifer, and a test at Technology Centre Mongstad,
located next to Statoil’s Mongstad refinery in Norway, capturing up to 82 kt-CO2/year
from the refinery’s cracker unit flue gas or from a new natural gas powered CHP plant
(see Augustson et al., 2017). Following successful completion of these validation
pilots, two full-scale demonstration projects have been planned: a second stage
project capturing 1.5 Mt-CO2/year from a 235 MWe unit at the AEP Mountaineer
plant, and a full CCS demonstration, also planned to capture 1.5 Mt-CO2/year from
a 330 MWth lignite-fueled power unit at the Turceni Energy Company’s 2 GW power
plant, in Gorj County, Romania, with CO2 transported 50 km for storage in a deep
saline aquifer. Unfortunately, both projects have been put on hold, since 2011 and
2012, respectively, due to regulatory and financing uncertainties.

Figure 6.8. CAP installation at AEP’s Mountaineer Plant, West Virginia, USA.

Source: Courtesy, GE Power.

> Read full chapter

Flue gas desulphurisation – total design

Clifford Matthews BSc (Hons), CEng, MBA, in Case Studies in Engineering Design,
1998

The limestone-gypsum process

This process has been in commercial use since the 1970s. It uses limestone (CaCO3)
as a reagent and produces CaSO4 (gypsum) as a main by-product. The limestone–-
gypsum process has several variants and all have the advantage of a high desulphuri-
sation efficiency, up to 95 per cent removal, depending on the type of coal and
limestone being used. The disadvantage is the high electrical power consumption
required to operate the FGD plant – about 3–4 per cent of the power station's rated
output. The flue gas is mixed with ground limestone slurry in an absorber, the
resulting reacting liquor then being recirculated by a pumping circuit to increase the
residence time. The CaCO3 reacts with the SO2 in the flue gas to produce calcium
sulphite (CaSO3):

CaCO3 + SO2 = CaSO3 + CO2

Air is blown, or sparged, into a tank at the bottom of the absorber tower. This
completes the reaction by oxidising the CaSO3 to CaSO4 (gypsum). Both sets of
reactions are sensitive to pH level:

2CaSO3 + O2 + 4H2O = 2CaSO4 + 4H2O.

The gypsum solution is continuously bled-off from the pumping circuit and dewa-
tered using cyclones and centrifuges to produce dry gypsum. Other, smaller bleed
streams extract and treat other impurities (mainly CaCl) in the process liquor. The
gypsum product can be used to make commercial plaster or wallboard.

The process is not immune from technical problems. Hydrochloric acid (HCl) orig-
inating from the coal is present in the flue gas and can interfere with the main
desulphurisation reactions – a separate prescrubber vessel may be needed upstream
of the absorber tower to remove the HCl. There is also the need to reheat the clean
gas after it leaves the absorber (in order to increase the buoyancy of the chimney
plume) as the wet spraying process reduces the temperature of the gas to below
about 100°C. This requires regenerative reheaters which heat the cleaned gas by
recovering the heat from the dirty gas before it enters the absorber. The process
conditions in a limestone–gypsum FGD plant are very aggressive. The main slurry
loops are alkaline (pH 1) and have a high concentration of suspended solids – up
to 40 per cent. Normal steels cannot withstand such conditions so special materials
 of construction are needed such as high nickel alloys, glass-flake reinforced vinyl
esters, and special plastics. The absorber towers are susceptible to plugging and
scaling caused by the very low solubility of calcium and sulphur salts; hard scale of
one metre thickness has been recorded in some plants.

The running costs of limestone–gypsum FGD plants are high and large volumes
of reagent and by-product have to be transported to and from the plant. Although
the gypsum product is saleable, its selling price is low, and is in competition with
naturally occuring gypsum, which is easy to mine. The other by-product is crystalline
calcium chloride which has few commercial uses and has to be disposed of.

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