Development of a process for simultaneous desulfurization, drying, and recovery of natural gas liquids from natural gas streams

Technical Report · Wed Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1986

OSTI ID:6746286

Sciamanna, S F; Lynn, S

In general, raw natural gas is a mixture of hydrocarbon gases that may also contain sulfur compounds, water and a small amount of inert gases. Conventional natural gas processing schemes are based on the sequential removal of sulfur compounds, water and hydrocarbon liquids. Each processing step requires a different process. The processing scheme proposed here removes all three in a single absorption step and is an integrated arrangement based on the University of California, Berkeley Sulfur Recovery Process (UCBSRP) technology. This processing scheme promises both reduced capital and operating costs. High purity sulfur product and natural gas liquids are produced and all exit streams contain less than 1 ppM of either hydrogen sulfide or sulfur dioxide. The UCBSRP technology is based on absorption of hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide by a polar organic solvent. Certain classes of polyglycol ethers are suitable solvents for hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide and light hydrocarbon gases. These solvents are also miscible with water. Hydrogen sulfide reacts with sulfur dioxide (generated by burning sulfur) in the liquid phase to form elemental sulfur and water. Sulfur is partially miscible in the solvent. Information on the solubility of hydrocarbon and acid gases is required for these organic solvents. Furthermore, knowing the solubility of elemental sulfur in these solvents is also necessary. The experimental portion of this work is concerned with the measurement of these solubilities as a function of temperature, solvent composition and water content. Solubility data were collected for hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, propane, and butane in a variety of mono- and diethers of polyethylene glycol. Solubility data for sulfur in these solvents were also collected. Correlations were developed for both gas and sulfur solubilities. 18 refs., 25 figs., 21 tabs.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 6746286
• Report Number(s): LBL-22664; ON: DE87007177
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS
030300* -- Natural Gas-- Drilling
Production
& Processing
ABSORPTION
ALCOHOLS
ALKANES
BUTANE
CAPITALIZED COST
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CORRELATIONS
COST
DATA
DESULFURIZATION
DIAGRAMS
DRYING
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FLOWSHEETS
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
GLYCOLS
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN SULFIDES
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
LIQUIDS
NATURAL GAS
NATURAL GAS LIQUIDS
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
OPERATING COST
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC POLYMERS
ORGANIC SOLVENTS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLYETHYLENE GLYCOLS
POLYMERS
PROCESSING
PROPANE
RECOVERY
REMOVAL
SOLUBILITY
SOLVENT PROPERTIES
SOLVENTS
SULFIDES
SULFUR
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR DIOXIDE
SULFUR OXIDES
WATER REMOVAL