How to operate an Amine Plant

Follow these operating and maintenance suggestions to avoid costly plant

upsets, repair downtimes and equipment replacements.

An amine plant, when properly designed, operated and maintained, will remove
acid gases from natural gas with little difficulty and attendance. The process
principles and physical limitations. Of the equipment should be clearly
recognized and understood. Better knowledge of these limitations will help
avoid many operating problems which steam directly from abuse of the
solution or careless operating practices.
How the process Works
Sour gas flow. The gas containing H2S and/or CO2 enters an inlet scrubber to
remove all free liquids and then passes into the bottom of the absorber. It flows
upward through bubble caps mounted on a series of trays holding a liquid layer
of amine solution. The bubble caps disperse the sour gas, causing it to make
intimate contact with the amine. After leaving the top tray, the gas passes
through a wire mesh mist eliminator to remove any entrained amine. The
sweet gas then leaves the top of the absorber.
Amine Flow. The lean amine (monoethanolamine solution) is picked up from the
solution storage tank and pumped into the absorber above the top tray. As the
amine moves downward from tray to tray, it react with the acid gas products
and absorbs them from the rising gas stream. The amine solution, carrying the
acid gases, flows from the bottom of the absorber through the heat exchanger
where the rich amine is heated by the hot, lean solution leaving the
regeneration unit.
The rich solution flows through the filter to remove the solid impurities and into
the stripper column near the top. As the solution flows downward trough this
vessel it is further heated by rising steam that is generated in the reboiler. The
temperature of the rich amine solution increases and the acid gases are
released.
The excess steam generated in the reboiler carries the released acid gases out
of the top of the stripper column. the steam is condensed and separated from
the acid gases in the reflux accumulator. The acid gases are removed from the
system and the steam condensate is returned to the stripper column as reflux.
The regenerated amine flows from the bottom of the stripper column and then
passes through the reboiler, amine-amine heat exchanger and solution cooler
before returning to the storage tank.

How to eliminate operating problems

Since most operating difficulties are caused by mechanical failure, it is the

extremely important to keep all the plant equipment in good working order.
Here are a few operating and maintenance suggestions to help provide a
trouble free operation.
Inlet scrubber. This vessel should be large enough to remove all solids and free
liquids to keep these impurities from getting into the amine system. It should
be thoroughly inspected occasionally to prevent any malfunction. The liquid
dump line should be protected from freezing during cold weather.
The well corrosion control program should be carefully planned and coordinated
to prevent amine contamination. Excessive fluid will carry over into the plant if
the inlet scrubber is overloaded. Therefore, the gas from the treated Wells
should be passed slowly through a tank or separator system at the wellhead
until the corrosion inhibitor and the distillate carrier can be collected. Do not
open all the treated Wells at one time. This will keep large liquid slugs out of
the gathering lines going to the plant.
Here are some problems which can result from a carryover.
1. Solids, carried by the incoming sour gas, can increase the erosion and
corrosion rate, collect in dead spots in the system and cause plugging of
towers and heat exchangers.
2. Free water will dilute the solution and the amine strength may be
reduced to a level where it cannot effectively treat the incoming sour
gas.
3. Salt water will also dilute the solution and the salt will deposit n the
reboiler tubes, causing a reduced heat transfer rate and an increased
corrosion rate.
4. Liquid hydrocarbons will increase the amine losses by foaming and
lashing in the reboiler. They will also decompose and from hard coke
deposits, especially on the reboiler tubes.
Sometimes an efficient mist reactor, which removes all contaminants over one
micron size, is needed between the inlet scrubber and the amine plant to clean
the incoming gas.

Absorber. This vessel contains either bubble trays or packing to give good
contact between the sour gas and the amine solution. Large sludge deposits on
the trays or packing can cause foaming high amine losses and poor acid gas
removal. Therefore, they should be kept clean.
The inlet gas temperature should be held to 100 F or below for good acid gas
removal and low amine losses.
The temperature of the lean amine solution entering the absorber should be
about 10 F higher than the inlet gas temperature to prevent hydrocarbon
condensation and subsequent solution foaming. The minimum contact

temperature in the absorber should be held to about 50-60 F to prevent

foaming and poor acid gas removal from the incoming gas.
During a plant startup, the pressure on the absorber should be brought up to
the operating range and then the solution should be circulated to get a liquid
level on all the trays. Next, the gas rate going to the absorber should be
increased slowly until the operating level is reached. These precautions will
eliminate unnecessary amine losses carried by the treated gas leaving the
tower.
During a plant shutdown, the gas flow should be slowly reduced and the heat
source should be shut off. To prevent amine decomposition, the circulating
pump should run until the reboiler temperature is lowered to approximately
150 F. the plant can then be depressurized slowly to prevent a loss of amine.
Stripper column. This vessel contains either bubble trays or packing to give
good vapor-liquid contact. The rich amine enters the top of the column and
flows downward toward the reboiler. Steam vapors, rising from the reboiler,
heats the rich solution up to about 230-240 . The acid gases are released and
leave the top of the column, carrying a considerable volume of steam with it.
These overhead products are cooled to about 145-150 F so the condensed
steam can be returned to the top of the column as reflux. The acid gases are
burned in a flare or sent to a processing unit.
1. During plant startup it is possible to leave fairly high quantities of CO2 in
the lean amine solution. This can cause permanent damage to the
reboiler tubes unless adequate precautions are taken. The temperature
of the reboiler should be brought up to the operating level before the
rich amine feed is permitted to enter the stripper column.
2. Another place where trouble can be encountered is in the overhead
system of the stripper. Extreme corrosion can occur if a small amount of
amine is not present in the overhead condensate used for reflux of the
stripper. Normally, CO2, H2S and water, a highly corrosive mixture, are
present in the overhead section. About 0.5 percent amine in the
overhead condensate is used to prevent corrosion. This area should be
closely watched, at all times, for possible corrosion.
The ratio in moles of water vapor per mole of acid gas in the stripper overhead
stream is commonly called the reflux ratio. This reflux is useful in the design
and operation of a plant to conveniently measure the amount of steam
required or being used. Typical reflux ratios vary between 1:1 and 3:1
depending on the degree of regeneration required. A design reflux ratio of 2:1
is fairly common.
3. A mist eliminator pad in the top of the stripper will help reduce amine
losses caused by physical entrainment. The pads are usually constructed
of coarsely woven fine stainless steel wire other corrosion resistant
materials.

4. It is best to furnish enough hot vapors in the stripper to remove

essentially all the acid gases from the amine before the solution enters
the reboiler. This will eliminate severe tube erosion and corrosion.
5. Dirty packing on trays will create foaming and other operating problems.
They should be kept clean to provide good vapor-liquid contact.
6. Weepage between the risers and the tray and between the shell and the
tray can create operating problems. The towers should be inspected
occasionally to see that there are no leaks.
7. The stripper should have a good distributor plate just below the rich
amine feed line to evenly spread the liquid over the packing to prevent
channeling.
8. In MEA solutions, removal of CO2 is much more difficult than H2S. A
regeneration temperature of 240 F will usually remove most of the H2S
and CO2. There CO2 in the absence of oxygen, is the only acid gas to be
removed from the process stream, regeneration temperatures in the
range of 245-255 F are often needed to get more efficient removal from
the lean MEA. The higher temperatures are usually obtained by
increasing the pressure on the stripper which causes the solution to have
a higher boiling point in the reboiler.