Sweetening Process

By : Tharini Seeralan (1000334)

Products Produced by Refineries
 What is Sweetening ?
 Sweetening process means treating process.
 Its means by which contaminants such as organic compounds containing sulfur, nitrogen, and oxygen,
dissolved metals and inorganic salts, soluble salts and water are removed from petroleum fractions or
streams.
 Petroleum refiners have a choice of several different treating processes, but the primary purpose of the
majority of them is the elimination of unwanted sulfur compounds.
 A variety of intermediate and finished products, including middle distillates, gasoline, kerosene, jet fuel,
and sour gases are dried and sweetened.
 Sweetening is a major refinery treatment of gasoline, treats sulfur compounds,
1. Hydrogen sulfide,
2. Thiophene
3. Mercaptan
 It is to improve color, odor, and oxidation stability.
 Sweetening also reduces concentrations of carbon dioxide.
 When sweetening process is carried out.

 Treating can be accomplished at an intermediate stage in the refining process, or just

before sending the finished product to storage.

 Choices of a treating method depend on the nature of the petroleum fractions, amount and

type of impurities in the fractions to be treated, the extent to which the process removes the

impurities, and end-product specifications.

 Treating materials include acids, solvents, alkalis, oxidizing, and adsorption agents.
Organic Compound
Sulfuric Acid in Sweetening Process

 Sulfuric acid is the most commonly used acid treating process.

 Sulfuric acid treating results in partial or complete removal of unsaturated hydrocarbons,

sulfur, nitrogen, and oxygen compounds, and resinous and asphaltic compounds.

 It is used to improve the odor, color, stability, carbon residue, and other properties of the
oil.
Clay treating

 Clay or lime treatment of acid-refined oil removes traces of asphaltic materials and other
compounds improving product color, odor, and stability.
Caustic Treating

 Caustic treating with sodium (or potassium) hydroxide is used to improve odor and color
by removing organic acids (naphthenic acids, phenols) and sulfur compounds (mercaptans,
H2S) by a caustic wash.

 By combining caustic soda solution with various solubility promoters (e.g., methyl alcohol
and cresols), up to 99% of all mercaptans as well as oxygen and nitrogen compounds can
be dissolved from petroleum fractions.
 Drying and Sweetening
 Feedstock from various refinery units are sent to gas treating plants where butanes and
butenes are removed for use as alkylation feedstock, heavier components are sent to
gasoline blending, propane is recovered for LPG, and propylene is removed for use in
petrochemicals.

 Some mercaptans are removed by water-soluble chemicals. Caustic liquid (sodium

hydroxide), amine compounds (diethanolamine) or fixed-bed catalyst sweetening also may
be used.

 Drying is accomplished by the use of water absorption or adsorption agents to remove

water from the products.

 Some processes simultaneously dry and sweeten by adsorption on molecular sieves.

Typical process equipment for sweetening sour gas with a
regenerative solvent.
 The first vessel is the inlet separator, which performs the important function of separating
the fluid phases on the basis of density difference between the liquid and the gas.
 The sour gas flows from the separator into the lower part of the absorber or contactor. This
vessel usually contains 20 to 24 trays, but for small units, it could be a column containing
packing.
 Lean solution containing the sweetening solvent in water is pumped into the absorber near
the top.
 As the solution flows down from tray to tray, it is in intimate contact with the sour gas as
the gas flows upward through the liquid on each tray.
 When the gas reaches the top of the vessel, virtually all the H 2S and, depending on the
solvent used, all the CO2 have been removed from the gas stream.
 The gas is now sweet and meets the specifications for:
1. H2S
2. CO2
3. total sulfur content
 The rich solution leaves the contactor at the bottom and is flowed through a pressure
letdown valve, allowing the pressure to drop to about 60 psig. In some major gas plants,
the pressure reduction is accomplished through turbines recovering power.

 Upon reduction of the pressure, the rich solution is flowed into a flash drum, where most
dissolved hydrocarbon gas and some acid gas flash off. The solution then flows through a
heat exchanger, picking up heat from the hot, regenerated lean solution stream.

 The rich solution then flows into the still, where the regeneration of the solvent occurs at a
pressure of about 12 to 15 psig and at the solution boiling temperature. Heat is applied
from an external source, such as a steam reboiler. The liberated acid gas and any
hydrocarbon gas not flashed off in the flash drum leave the still at the top, together with
some solvent and a lot of water vapor.
 This stream of vapors is flowed through a condenser, usually an aerial cooler, to condense
the solvent and water vapors. The liquid and gas mixture is flowed into a separator,
normally referred to as a reflux drum, where the acid gas is separated from the condensed
liquids.

 The liquids are pumped back into the top of the still as reflux. The gas stream, consisting
mainly of H2S and CO2, is generally piped to a sulfur recovery unit. The regenerated
solution is flowed from the reboiler or the bottom of the still through the rich/lean solution
heat exchanger to a surge tank. From here, the solution is pumped through a cooler to
adjust the temperature to the appropriate treating temperature in the absorber.

 The stream is then pumped with a high-pressure pump back into the top of the absorber, to
continue the sweetening of the sour gas.
 Most solvent systems have a means of filtering the solution. This is accomplished by
flowing a portion of the lean solution through a particle filter and sometimes a carbon filter
as well. The purpose is to maintain a high degree of solution cleanliness to avoid solution
foaming. Some solvent systems also have a means of removing degradation products that
involves maintaining an additional reboiler for this purpose in the regeneration equipment
hook-up. In some designs, the rich solution is filtered after it leaves the surge drum.
Sweetening solvents
 The desirable characteristics of a sweetening solvent are:
1.Required removal of H2S and other sulfur compounds must be achieved.
2.Pickup of hydrocarbons must be low.
3.Solvent vapor pressure must be low to minimize solvent losses.
4.Reactions between solvent and acid gases must be reversible to prevent solvent
degradation.
5.Solvent must be thermally stable.
6.Removal of degradation products must be simple.
7.The acid gas pickup per unit of solvent circulated must be high.
8.Heat requirement for solvent regeneration or stripping must be low.
9.The solvent should be noncorrosive.
10.
The solvent should not foam in the contactor or still.
11.
Selective removal of acid gases is desirable.
12.
The solvent should be cheap and readily available.
 Unfortunately, there is no one solvent that has all the desirable characteristics. This makes
it necessary to select the solvent that is best suited for treating the particular sour gas
mixture from the various solvents that are available.

 The sour natural gas mixtures vary in:

1. H2S and CO2 content and ratio
2. content of heavy or aromatic compounds
3. content of COS, CS2, and mercaptans

 While most of the sour gas is sweetened with regenerative solvents, for slightly sour gas, it
may be more economical to use scavenger solvents or solid agents.  In such processes, the
compound reacts chemically with the H2S and is consumed in the sweetening process,
requiring the sweetening agent to be periodically replaced.
Safety Considerations

 Sweetening processes use air or oxygen.

 If excess oxygen enters these processes, it is possible for a fire to occur in the settler due to
the generation of static electricity, which acts as the ignition source.

 There is a potential for exposure to hydrogen sulfide, caustic (sodium hydroxide), spent
caustic, spent catalyst (Merox), catalyst dust and sweetening agents (sodium carbonate and
sodium bicarbonate).