4 replies to this topic

[nsr.almasi]

Dear Sirs,

 

I need your experience and knowledge regarding amine unit in a gas plant and will be very grateful if you  could advise me.

 

I am studding on a gas plant and amine amine sweetening unit. one of the most important in the plant is  Rich/Lean Amine HX which is plate and frame type. the main problem is fouling and poor duty of HX. I think if we use Rich amine filter before it we can solve some problems. bellow you can find rich amine fouling analysis .what do you think about this solution. I will be very grateful if you  advise me regarding this matter. Which kind of filter do you recommend?

 

Sample Analysis

Ash wt% 64.3

Insoluble in acid wt% 35.64

Fe as fe2O3 wt% 23.99

Ca as CaCO3 wt% Nil

Mg as CaCO3 wt% Nil

Sulfide wt% Negative

Required TSS: mg/lit < 5

 

Rich amine flow 160 ton/hr

Rich Amine Temp 20-30 C

Rich Amine pressure 1.5 barg

 

Best Regards

Nasrin

 

 

[breizh]

Hi Nasrin,

Please consider the literature attached to support your work .

Is the plates and frame HX the right technology for this application ?

Definitely filtration will help , one in operation and a second in stand by mode or cleaning mode .

 

my 2 cents

 

Breizh

Edited by breizh, 15 June 2019 - 02:26 AM.

[nsr.almasi]

Dear Breizh

 

Thank you for your prompt reply.  As you said, the plate and frame HX was wrong and the plant is studying and trying to change the current HX to the shell and tube.  I read the attached file and get good information.  Could you please help me to select the kind of filtration (Carbon-cartridge or mechanical) for rich amine side and its estimated cost?

 

Thank you
Nasrin

[breizh]

Hi Nasrin .

Probably you will need two stages of filtration , one for coarse particle  and one for smaller ones . I'm not an expert on this process , hope others will reply .

For coarse , basket filter should be ok .

Dealing with soda ash process , let say 400 to 500 m3/h,  we were using auto self cleaning filter from Alfa Laval before Plates and frame HX .

 

You may Google auto self cleaning filtration and contact them for a quote  

 

my view.

Breizh

Edited by breizh, 16 June 2019 - 12:40 AM.

[gegio1960]

Hi Nasrin and Breizh.

This discussion is interesting for me, as a process engineer involved in design and not in operation.

The use of PHEs has been widely adopted, at least in refinery amine units, also as a standard by major owners.

In this cases, the use of an upstream filter is mandatory to avoid plugging problems. Very often it is a duplex filter.

I never received negative feedbacks from the operators of the units interested by such kind of revamp (ie from S&THE to PHE).

Just to complete this comment, I would also say that not all the PHEs have the same qualities. Low cost solutions, available on the market, are not appropriate for this critical service.

Good luck!

gegio