(418bb) Mdea As an Effective Solvent for the Natural Gas Sweetening Process

Natural gas has now become a crucial component of world’s supply energy. The demand for natural gas has risen drastically over the past few years due to its importance in various industries and also for the domestic purposes. Natural gas need to be purified to meet the quality standards since it contains impurities such as carbon dioxide (CO₂) and hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), which are the main acid gases and can cause corrosion, reduce the heating and sales value of gas. Aqueous amine solutions are proven to be practical solvents for the treatment of natural gas. By simply changing their amine solutions, many inefficient acid gas removal units can be optimized. Tertiary amines like methyl di-ethanol amine (MDEA) are commonly used for the removal of CO₂ from gas mixtures or in gas sweetening processes for the extraction of CO₂ and H₂S. The use of MDEA has been investigated by using a process simulation program called ASPEN Plus. The results show that, at high pressures, amine mixtures have little or no advantage. As the pressure is lowered, it becomes more difficult for MDEA to meet residual gas requirements.