Acid gas treatment upgrade for

Qatargas
Upgrading acid gas treatment at the worlds largest LNG facility safeguards the
plants design capacity and its ability to process increasingly sour feeds

Gauthier Perdu, Laurent Normand and Geraldine Laborie Prosernat

Omar Alhatou Qatargas

Q atargas is the worlds largest liquefied

natural gas (LNG) company. It annually
produces and supplies the globe with 42 million
Additionally, the content of H2S and CO2 will not
be stable over time, but is expected to rise
according to the wells in production. Contents
tonnes of LNG from its four ventures (Qatargas can even be adjustable, but they will definitively
1-4). A joint venture of Qatar Petroleum, stay above the H2S and CO2 levels the original
ExxonMobil, Total, Mitsui and Marubeni, the plant was designed for.
company has headquarters in Doha, Qatar and The existing gas pretreatment units of Qatargas
maintains its upstream assets in Ras Laffan. 1 LNG plant consist of three parallel Sulphinol D
Natural gas is supplied to Qatargass LNG trains units, designed by Shell and capable of handling
from the massive North Field, by far the worlds a gas with 0.9% H2S and 2.4% CO2. The acid gas
largest non-associated gas field. Together with produced by the Sulphinol plant is sent to an
RasGas, the company achieves LNG production existing 634 t/d sulphur production plant. The
of 77 million t/y. Sulphinol units accommodate the presence of
The company was originally formed to operate mercaptans in the feed gas, with the support of
three LNG trains with a design capacity of 2 polishing units installed downstream.
million t/y each. Then, Qatargas 1 was upgraded The additional quantities of H2S are treated in
in 2005 through a debottlenecking project, new onshore facilities composed of a new acid
which resulted in a new capacity of 10 million gas removal unit (AGRU) and a new sulphur
t/y. recovery unit (SRU), as part of the project. The
new plant is based on a single train concept and
Plateau Maintenance Project is capable of treating over 1.1 billion cubic feet
The recent completion of the Plateau per day (bcfd) of offshore feed gas, located
Maintenance Project (PMP) ensures that the upstream the existing LNG trains. The basic prin-
production capacity of Qatargas 1 is maintained ciple is to remove the extra amounts of H2S and
at 10 million t/y of LNG for many years to come. CO2 from sourer feed gas, down to levels accept-
This has been accomplished by drilling additional able to the existing downstream facilities. The
offshore wells, modifying associated offshore acid gas from this new AGRU is sent directly to a
facilities, modifying the existing Qatargas 1 new dedicated conversion unit in order to
Trains 1, 2 and 3, and adding onshore facilities to produce sulphur and meet emission standards.
accommodate expected increases of hydrogen Numerous new or upgraded compression and
sulphide (H2S) and carbon dioxide (CO2) contents utility units were also included as the onshore
in the feed gas. project had a major brownfield component, with
With these new gas sources, the H2S and CO2 the scope of work conducted within the existing
content would be above the maximum levels that operating facilities and equipment.
can be handled by the existing facilities to keep After Chiyoda and Technip had carried out
production of LNG at maximum flow. early conceptual studies in 2004 and 2005,

www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001270 Gas 2016 1

 BTX AGRU + acid gas enrich-
Treated gas Flash gas Prosernat ment + amine section of the
AGR No.4 and SRU Licensor
to Sulfinol to fuel gas
TGT No. 4 units SRU + incinerator TGTU + common regeneration)
Unit system
are fully integrated. The availa-
Incinerator ble area allocated for the
Flash gas greenfield part of the project was
Tail
Acid gas a single 365 x 150 m zone,
HV gas
already occupied by approxi-
mately 100 x 150 m of existing
Raw HP MP Preflash Regenerator
SRU +
TGT instrumentation and HVAC facil-
gas absorption flash column hydrogenation
(KTI Spa) ities. One of the most impressive
Tail
gas achievements of the project has
1100 MMSCFD
Rich
Lean solvent been the installation of one 1.1
amine Lean solvent
Semi-lean solvent recycle bcfd gas treatment plant plus
880 t/d sulphur, tail gas and
incinerator units within 40 000
Figure 1 Gas treatment unit of the PMP project: arrangement of AGRU + SRU m2. The storage tank area was
left at the initial location.
followed by the feasibility study, pre-front end The project was completed in 2014 and the
engineering design (pre-FEED) and FEED of the plants went into operation in September 2014.
facilities from 2006 to 2008, the Technip- The feed flow of gas was quickly and successfully
Chiyoda joint venture (TCJV) was awarded the raised to the design capacity. The new plant
engineering procurement and construction (EPC) satisfactorily passed performance checks and
contract by Qatargas for the onshore work of the reception was at the beginning of 2015.
project in 2010. Technology selection for the The PMP project also hit records in term of
licensors of a new AGRU and sulphur plant was HSE management since the project team, along
carried out in 2006. Based on its preflash low with their contractors, worked over 42 million
BTX process, within the AdvAmine technology man-hours in a very difficult operating environ-
portfolio, Prosernat was initially appointed to ment, achieving world class safety performance,
supply the design of the new selective AGRU, including an exceptional total recordable inci-
while the sulphur plant is based on a technology dent rate (TRIR) of 0.23 for every 200 000
supplied by another company. hours worked. More importantly for Qatargas,
The initial phase had considered two parallel the project met the objectives of the company in
600 million scfd AGRU + SRU/TGTU trains term of its safety incident and injury free
within a separate plot area dedicated to AGRUs, culture, particularly in the application of the
another dedicated to SRU/TGTUs, and a third STOP safety observation programme, where a
for solvent storage tanks. For that phase, there peak workforce of 6500 completed over 665 000
was already a constraint in available space within observation cards, which helped identify and
the existing LNG trains, congested after the 2005 mitigate safety risks.
debottlenecking phase. The initial scheme had
resulted in stretching the distance between the Design of the new gas treatment unit
AGRU and the SRU of each train. The selected process scheme for the new AGRU
The project eventually went to a fast track is the preflash low BTX (see Figure 1). It includes
review FEED in 2008. Qatargas decided that a low pressure preflash of rich MDEA solvent in
more space constraints could be solved by a single a dedicated column installed upstream the
train, with additional and significant benefits on MDEA regenerator, with routing of the recov-
project costs. Qatargas therefore considered a ered gas to the TGT absorber. The possibility to
single train of 1.1 bcfd with integrated AGRU + recycle a part of the acid gas from the regenera-
SRU + TGTU, installed within a single plot area. tor overhead to the preflash column for an
Optimisation has also been achieved thanks to a enrichment step was also implemented for
patented design proposed by Prosernat, in which leaner H2S feed gas cases (containing 1 mol%
all the amine units and sections of the plant (low H2S) and for the turndown case. The proposed

2 Gas 2016 www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001270

scheme is based on AdvAmine
Operating cases of the new gas treatment plant
technology. It gives additional
flexibility in terms of gas
Case Feed gas composition Feed gas, Feed gas Acid gas H2S
composition range and also effi- CO2 content, H2S content, flow rate, temperature, content to
cient operating adjustment. Acid % mole % mole MMscfd C SRU, % mole
dry basis dry basis
gas feeds the SRU, followed by a Design P90
hydrogenation and quench Summer 3.2874 2.0741 1 100 40.0 54
Design P90
section for tail gas. The tail gas Summer 3.2874 2.0741 1 100 40.0 60
from the TGT absorber goes to Normal P50
an incinerator, installed close to Winter 3.1170 1.8273 975 22.4 60
Turndown 2.5136 1.0000 620 40.0 54
the new units.
The plant also takes advantage Table 1
of the integration of a high pres-
sure absorber and tail gas Contaminants present in the feed gas
absorber. Semi-lean solvent
from the TGT absorber is recy- Case Design case Normal case Turndown case
cled to the high pressure Composition case P90 Summer 2021 P50 Winter 2011 1% mol H2S
Composition ppmv ppmv ppmv
absorber after mixing with fresh CycloC5+ 0.0395 0.0286 0.0496
lean solvent from regeneration. Aromatics 0.0401 0.0400 0.0400
COS 0.0030 0.0030 0.0030
The scope of Prosernat as Mercaptans 0.0270 0.0270 0.0270
AdvAmine process licensor
covered the design of the Table 2
complete amine unit, including
the AGRUs high pressure absorber, the preflash system is supplied to the downstream sulphur
column, the TGT absorber and the solvent plant in respect of the following specifications:
regenerator. Due to the highly integrated amine, 1.15 barg at the inlet SRU knockout drum, at a
SRU process configuration, heat and material temperature of 45C and with 54% mol H2S
balances were prepared by iterative calculations minimum wet basis. Operating cases at 60% H2S
between Prosernat and the SRU licensor. in the acid gas were also requested by Qatargas.

Sour feed gas Flash gas

The new gas treatment unit allows for four design The flash gas produced by the flash vessel has to
and operating cases. There is a single design for meet a 50 ppmv H2S specification at 7 barg.
the AGRU, but this design covers the complete
range of feed gas flow rates and compositions Tail gas
shown in Table 1. The TGT treated gas from the TGT absorber has
The feed gas pressure for all cases is 73.8 bara. to contain 250 ppmv H2S (wet basis) maximum
The new plant was allocated only a 1.0 bar pres- at near atmospheric pressure to feed the
sure drop between the inlet and outlet battery incinerator.
limits.
The feed gas includes mercaptans, COS and Sulphur plant and incinerator
aromatics, which the new unit has to accommo- The capacity of the SRU is 874 t/d of sulphur for
date. These are detailed in Table 2. the maximum H2S design case. Turndown capac-
ity is 235 t/d of sulphur.
Gas specifications The sulphur recovery efficiency is 99.25% of
Treated gas the total sulphur contained in the sulphur feed.
The new treatment plant has to produce an acid The design of the sulphur plant accommodates a
gas with a maximum of 600 ppmv H2S and 1.8% maximum of 500 ppmv aromatics and 500 ppmv
vol CO2, at 50C. mercaptans in the acid gas.
The rundown of bright yellow sulphur
Acid gas complies with the following main specification:
The acid gas from the solvent regeneration Purity (dry basis) wt%: 99.8 wt%

www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001270 Gas 2016 3

 Acid
gas SRU +
hydrogenation
+ quench
Treated
gas

HP AGRU
absorber

Fuel AGRU + TGTU

gas common
regenerator
Feed
gas

TGTU
absorber

Figure 2 Initial configuration proposed by Prosernat for the AGRU

H2S plus H2Sx 350 ppmwt tion of the SRU unit. Therefore, the question of
Organic matter as carbon 400 ppmwt enrichment of the gas was raised.
Ash 200 ppmwt Optimisation of the needs of the new units in
Acidity (as H2SO4) 50 ppmwt terms of utilities and installation area was also
No dark particles. carefully considered since the new installations
Incinerator specifications are: were to be built within one existing plant. Steam
H2S plus COS plus CS2 50 mg/Nm3 @ 2% vol and cooling water supplies available in the exist-
O2 ing facilities might be limited. However,
Carbon monoxide 5000 mg/Nm3 @ 2% vol O2 Qatargas could expect to minimise the debottle-
BTX plus C6+ conversion in % 99.9 necking works at the centralised utilities
generation plant if new demands made of it were
Base case moderate. Basically, the need to handle the vari-
When the project went to selection of licensed ous cases in two trains of 800 million scfd
technologies at the end of 2005, Qatargas was design capacity the initial configuration of the
looking for a single technology licensor for gas project after the conceptual study, where the
sweetening (including potential enrichment of normal flow rate to the trains was to be 600
the acid gas upstream the SRU) and for the TGT million scfd with a design capacity set at 800
absorber. The latter was to include hydrogena- million scfd required a 540 m3/h amine based
tion plus quench of the tail gas, followed by an high pressure AGRU and a 240 m3/h TGTU per
H2S absorber. Qatargas went to a separate bid train. The corresponding reboiling duties could
for the AGRU/TGTU absorber and the SRU/ be estimated at 39 MW for the AGRU and 16
hydrogenation and quench sections. The tech- MW for the TGTU at regeneration.
nology specified for gas sweetening was to be an Prosernat bid with a first configuration in
amine based technology. which the rich solvent of both the AGRU and the
The need for a selective AGRU technology was TGT absorber were regenerated commonly in a
obvious and MDEA processes were proposed. single column, and the solvent from the TGT
However, the quality of acid gas sent to the SRU absorber, partially loaded with H2S and CO2, was
contains in some cases less than 50% H2S, reused in the AGRUs high pressure absorber.
contaminated by aromatics and mercaptans. The arrangement gave significant savings
These are potentially harmful to efficient opera- compared to a solution with two separate units,

4 Gas 2016 www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001270

since the total solvent flow rate was eventually PMP case, the quantity of aromatics approached
600 m3/h and the reboiler duty was only 48 3.6 t/d in the acid gas. The space constraints of
MW. The process configuration is shown in the project could not permit such a
Figure 2. configuration.
For this configuration, the acid gas loading is Another approach would be to process the acid
0.67 mole of acid gas per mole of amine in gas in an additional low pressure MDEA unit,
solvent. The solvent loading is no higher than in which would solve the issue twice: by first
MDEA gas sweetening plants based on AdvAmine strongly decreasing the aromatic content of the
technology in operation for many years in similar H2S rich gas (the partial pressure of these
ambient conditions in UAE. The acid gas compounds is considerably lower than in the
produced by the design case has 53% mol H2S raw gas, to limit absorption by MDEA); and
wet basis, and approximately 1200 ppmv aromat- secondly, by selectively absorbing H2S but slip-
ics and mercaptans. Although the basis of the ping CO2, to produce a gas enriched with H2S at
design of the SRU had not put restrictions on the the regenerator. The major drawback would be
BTX content for the bid evaluation of SRU licen- the cost of this second wash (another selective
sors, it appeared that the content of aromatics in amine unit almost as expensive as a high pres-
the acid gas became an issue for the design of the sure AGRU). There would be also an additional
SRU. Even for lean cases, the high pressure loss of sulphur in the CO2 released to the incin-
AGRU delivers acid gas with less than 45% mol erator since the concept adds one supplementary
H2S, but still with 800-1000 ppmv aromatics. absorber.
The configuration of the SRU had to be Eventually, Qatargas wanted to study the
adapted to handle such feed gases, and has to enrichment of acid gas to increase the content of
rely on more complex technologies to design the H2S and reduce the content of mercaptans and
Claus thermal stage. Technologies such as co-fir- aromatics. In this case, the integrated amine high
ing with fuel gas or enrichment of air with pressure absorber and TGT absorbers in one
oxygen were not required by Qatargas. common regenerator already proposed by
Prosernat delivers a situation conducive to less
Quality of the acid gas charge of the SRU costly solutions:
The problem with the quality of acid gas is the Integrating enrichment to the TGTU with a
aromatic content (1200 ppmv) associated with a dedicated absorber
low content of H2S (45-53%). The H2S content is Improving the selectivity of the high pressure
insufficient to cause full oxidation of these gas sweetening unit upwards to a quality that
aromatics in the thermal stage of the sulphur allows complete oxidation of aromatics at the
plant. thermal stage of the Claus unit, using Prosernats
Remedies can focus on two fronts: preflash low BTX process.
Reducing aromatics in the acid gas
Increasing the content of H2S in the acid gas to Integrating an enrichment absorber in the
allow complete oxidation of the aromatics at the TGTU
thermal stage of the Claus unit (generally above The bulk H2S specification requested in the
1050C). treated gas (600 ppmv) enables the valorisation
of semi-lean amine from the TGT absorber for
Reducing aromatics in acid gas reuse in the high pressure absorber. The benefit
Known industrial solutions can involve treating is still seen if an acid gas enrichment absorber is
the acid gas on activated carbon beds for installed, despite increased loadings of acid gas
adsorption of hydrocarbons. This technology in the solvent. It is even possible to consider two
has been developed by Saudi Aramco and has low pressure absorbers installed in series, so that
been widely used in Saudi Arabian gas plants. the problem of increased rejection of H2S to the
It seems to have some drawbacks: the effective- incinerator is mitigated. The scheme is shown in
ness of activated carbon is better for light Figure 3. A fraction of the acid gas produced by
aromatics (benzene), and there is a need to the regenerator is washed in a dedicated absorber
regenerate the beds periodically. Finally, the (which can be the lower part of a stacked TGT
size of the beds themselves is very large. In the absorber in a patented process) installed close to

www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001270 Gas 2016 5

 SRU +
hydrogenation
+ quench
Treated
gas

AGRU + TGTU
common
HP AGRU
regenerator
absorber

Fuel
gas
Feed
gas
TGTU
absorber

AGEU
absorber

Figure 3 Enrichment by integration of the acid gas absorber in the TGTU

the absorber of the TGTU. The gain is the use of by Total in the 1980s when the company oper-
the remaining absorption capacity in the semi- ated selective MDEA plants in the gas plant at
lean amine flowing from the TGT absorber after Lacq, France.
the tail gas is cleaned up. The advantages of this new system are
The purpose of this operation is to partially multiple:
enrich the acid gas and slip the aromatics Firstly, the low pressure flash of a rich amine
contained in the fraction of acid gas. The effec- solvent preferentially vaporises CO2, which is a
tiveness of the operation is directly related to the simple way to enrich the rich solvent in H2S, then
amount of acid gas that is recycled, at increasing the acid gas from the regenerator.
cost. Furthermore, rich amine from the bottom of Secondly the flash of the rich amine solvent
the AGRU absorber is much more concentrated also releases a large fraction of aromatics, which
than the one coming from the TGTU. Its use in is sent into the absorber of the TGTU, then evac-
the high pressure absorber can become problem- uated to the incinerator.
atic. It is then necessary to increase the flow of The efficiency of this arrangement is far greater
fresh solvent. than the efficiency of recycling acid gas, mainly
because the concentration of H2S in the flash gas
AdvAmine preflash low BTX process is significantly lower than in acid gas. The semi-
The configuration shown in Figure 4 adds a lean solvent from the TGTU is then less
supplementary low pressure flash tower upstream concentrated in H2S and more useable in the
the regenerator to flash the rich solvent after high pressure absorber to spare the use of fresh
preheating. The vapour produced is recycled to amine.
the TGT absorber, while the rich amine liquid The operating pressure of the preflash column
solvent is routed to the head of the regenerator. is adjustable by operators, to control the enrich-
The arrangement had been already implemented ment power of recirculation in respect of the

6 Gas 2016 www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001270

 Pre-flash
tower
SRU +
hydrogenation
+ quench
Treated
gas

HP AGRU
absorber

Fuel AGRU + TGTU

gas common
regenerator
Feed
gas

TGTU
absorber

Figure 4 Preflash low BTX process with integration of semi-lean solvent from the TGTU

composition and flow of sour feed gas to the high 800 million scfd design case is shown in Table 3.
pressure AGRU. The lower the operating pressure Based on these results, the AdvAmine preflash
of the preflash column, the higher the content of low BTX process proposed by Prosernat was
H2S in acid gas to the SRU. At PMP, the configu- finally selected by Qatargas for the project.
ration is available to adjust the concentration of At the more detailed optimisation phase at the
acid gas between 54% mol (when the operating beginning of the FEED phase, Prosernat consid-
pressure of the preflash column is 4 barg) to 60% ered the addition of a specific recycle of hot acid
mol or more, at lower operating pressures. gas from the top of the regenerator to the
Despite higher recirculation flows of low pres- preflash tower via a dedicated line. The scheme,
sure flash gas, and therefore more acid gas in based on solutions patented by Total when it
semi-lean solvent from the TGTU tower, the 600 operated the Lacq plant, improves more signifi-
ppmv H2S content requested at the top of the cantly the quality of acid gas. It acts as a
high pressure absorber still
allows recycling of significant Comparison of three schemes in the initial FEED phase
amounts of semi-lean solvent,
without risking the H2S specifi- Initial design Acid gas Preflash low
cation. The arrangement saves recycle of TGTU enrichment BTX process
solvent and common in TGTU
substantially on reboiling duties. regeneration
Total amine flow, Sm3/hr 600 1050 900
Reboiler duty, MW 48 75 65
Comparison of performances H2S content in acid gas, % mol wet 53 59 60
between the schemes BTX content in acid gas, ppmv wet 1200 800-900 310
The performances of each H2S concentration from HP AGRU absorber, ppmv 600 600 310
H2S concentration from LP TGTU absorber, ppmv 250 250 250
process were evaluated and the
results were proposed to
Qatargas. A comparison for the Table 3

www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001270 Gas 2016 7

 Pre-flash
tower
SRU +
hydrogenation
Acid gas + quench
Treated recycle
gas

HP AGRU
absorber

Fuel AGRU + TGTU

gas common
regenerator
Feed
gas

TGTU
absorber

Figure 5 Preflash low BTX process with acid gas recycle to TGTU

superenrichment process configuration in the cooler, operating with a closed cooling water
worst conditions. This option allows more H2S to loop, to limit the pressure drop of the high pres-
be sent to the TGTU and is operated only when sure section. It also enables water wash of the
the unit has extra quantities of fresh solvent solvent to limit solvent losses to downstream
available from the regenerator in turndown units.
conditions. The pressure of the preflash tower The rich amine recovered at the bottom of the
needs to be below that of the regenerator top to MDEA absorber is released at 7 barg through a
circulate acid gas. For PMP, the connection is level control valve. The flash gas is treated with a
activated only for turndown 1% and start-up slipstream of lean amine in a dedicated absorber
cases. Figure 5 details the arrangement. stacked on the medium pressure flash drum.
The rich solvent is then pre-heated with the
Description of the acid gas treatment unit lean solvent from the bottom of the regenerator
A process scheme of the acid gas treatment unit through the rich/lean MDEA exchangers. The hot
is shown in Figure 6. rich solvent then feeds the preflash column at
In the high pressure section, the raw feed gas is reduced pressure. The flash of the rich solvent
first filtered then contacted with an amine solvent releases some of the acid gases, mostly CO2, and
that is a mix of a very lean solvent and semi-lean hydrocarbons. The operating pressure is adjusta-
amine solvent already used in the TGT absorber. ble. It controls the differential ratio of released
The fraction of each amine solvent can be CO2 to H2S. The gas recovered at the top of the
adjusted to be as close as possible to the required preflash column is cooled and reflux water is sent
H2S specification, and the number of trays in the back to the column.
absorber is adjustable to control CO2 slippage. The flash gas is mixed with the tail gas from
The treated gas is cooled through a vertical direct the SRU hydrogenation section and feeds the

8 Gas 2016 www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001270

 Treated
gas

SRU +
hydrogenation
+ quench
AGRU
pre-flash
tower
Acid gas
recycle
Sulphur

HP AGRU
absorber
Fuel
gas
AGRU
regenerator

TGTU
absorber

Feed Reboilers
gas LP steam

Figure 6 Flow scheme of the acid gas treatment plant, including AGRU, SRU and TGTU

TGT absorber, where it is contacted with fresh regenerator is cooled in the rich/lean MDEA
solvent from the regenerator to achieve H2S exchangers. Air cooling and water cool the
specification. solvent.
The rich amine from the preflash column is Cooled lean amine solvent feeds the high pres-
sent to the regenerator where H2S and CO2 are sure absorber, the medium pressure absorber
stripped by the vapour generated in the reboiler. and the TGT absorber. Filtration is achieved with
The top of the regenerator is equipped with a cartridges filters installed on a side stream of the
direct condensing section where acid gas is lean solvent loop. The semi-lean solvent from the
cooled by a flow of water circulating in a closed TGT absorber is also filtered before recycling to
loop. This arrangement maximises the available the lean solvent loop.
pressure of the acid gas at the AGRUs battery Depending on the feed gas composition (H2S/
limit. It was set at the FEED stage to limit the CO2 ratio and feed gas flow), the operating condi-
footprint and diameter of the acid gas headers to tions of the AGRU are adjusted to achieve the
the SRU, with higher allowable pressure drop. required specifications, especially the concentra-
The new AGRU is equipped with an acid gas tion of H2S in acid gas. Two parameters are
line that allows recycling of acid gas from the top essential and specific to the good operation of the
of the regenerator to the preflash column. This unit: the recycle rate of semi-lean amine in the
facility is used to meet the minimum H2S content solvent feed to the high pressure absorber; and
of the acid gas even when the feed gas contains the operating pressure of the preflash column.
only 1% of H2S. The line can also be used during
turndown conditions. Design challenges
The lean solvent from the bottom of the MDEA Beyond the elaborated multi-column process

www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001270 Gas 2016 9

 scheme, the project has been a great challenge in Petroleum Technology Conference, Doha, Qatar, 6-9 December
terms of the design and concept of mega-sized 2015 and published with the permission of the Society of
equipment: Petroleum Engineers.
The high pressure AGRU absorber fitted with
trays has an inside diameter of more than 6.5 m Gauthier Perdu is Deputy VP Process and Application with
Prosernat, in charge of technologies. He is an expert in the field
and is one of the largest high pressure columns
of sweetening of natural gases and disposal of acid gases. He
amongst AdvAmine references. Close attention
graduated from ENSIGC Toulouse in 1995 as Dipl. Engineer and
has been paid to optimisation of the tower size with a postgraduate certificate in chemical engineering.
and to the design of the trays. Laurent Normand is Business Development Manager with
The AGRU regenerator has an inside diameter Prosernat, in charge of sales, licensing and technology
of 9 m at the bottom; its height is more than 41 development for gas treatment and CO2 capture. He started his
m as the direct condenser is stacked vertically on career at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (USA) and IFPEn (France).
top of it. This tower ranks as the biggest ever He holds a PhD from Ecole des Mines de Paris and graduated as
regenerator design using AdvAmine technology. an engineer from the engineering school of physics ENSPG-INPG
The AGRU regenerator bottom has a buffer in France.
capacity as there is no surge tank installed in the Geraldine Laborie is an Amine Technologies Process Expert with
Prosernat, in charge of basics development, amine unit detailed
solvent loop, but installed outside the AGRUs
engineering, amine unit troubleshooting and upgrades with
battery limit at some distance.
experience in amine unit start-up, operations and survey. She
The 1.1 bcfd AGRU is one of the largest for graduated as an engineer from the National Institute of Applied
sour gas treatment in a single train amongst Sciences (INSA) of Toulouse, France.
AdvAmine references. Omar Alhatou is a Process Engineering Specialist with Qatargas.
He holds a BSc degree in chemical engineering from the
The start-up and the successful operation of University of Jordan.
plant
Start-up chronology
Start-up of the AGRU was completed at the end LINKS
of September 2014, and all new PMP units
(AGR4 and SRU4) were running in a smooth and More articles from: Prosernat
stable way by mid-October 2014. First sulphur
More articles from the following categories:
was produced on 10 October 2014.
Gas Processing and Treatment
Sulphur Removal, Recovery and Handling
This article is based on a presentation to the International

00 Gas 2016 www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001270