Surfactant Contaminants in Feed Gas Streams to Amine Units: The Hidden Foaming Agent

摘要

Contamination in feed gas streams to processing plants is one of the leading causes of lost revenue,rnupsets, and low throughput. More detailed testing shows that surfactants in the gas stream are one ofrnthe most damaging contaminants affecting the process. Surfactants often pose a number of challengesrnsuch as foaming and emulsification. In fact, surfactants in the feed gas are perhaps the predominant causernof amine foaming leading to high H2S in the treated gas and amine solvent losses. Surface activerncontaminants in gas streams should therefore be sampled, analyzed, and removed in order to enablernprocessing plants to run stable. This paper discusses several cases where inlet gas sampling revealed thernpresence of surfactants directly linked to amine solvent foaming and associated losses. Specializedrnmethods for surfactants presence such as surface tension and surface rheology evaluation are examinedrnhere, as well as techniques for on-site sampling of the inlet gas. The paper additionally discusses measuresrnto be implemented to remove surfactants and eliminate their downstream effects.