(25d) Demonstration Test Result of High Pressure Acid-Gas Capture Technology (HiPACT)

The technology HiPACT (High Pressure Acid-gas Capture Technology), jointly developed by JGC
and BASF, is an advanced CO2 capture technology to contribute to economical CCS implementation
in natural gas processing plants. The solvent has high stability against thermal degradation, which
enables high pressure and elevated temperature operation during solvent regeneration to reduce CO2
compression cost downstream. The solvent also has a higher CO2 absorption capacity than
commercially available solvent technologies, which results in decreased solvent circulation rates and
lower AGRU (Acid Gas Removal Unit) capital and operating costs.

The demonstration test was conducted in INPEX’s Koshijihara natural gas plant in Nagaoka City.
INPEX consistently improves the natural gas production efficiency to reduce environmental impact.
As for the AGRU technology, DGA was initially selected, followed by aMDEA(TM) then finally by
HiPACT for demonstration purposes. A commercial AGRU train was temporarily modified and
aMDEA(TM) solvent was swapped with HiPACT. Treated gas from HiPACT was sent to the pipeline
via dew point control system during the demonstration test.

HiPACT showed excellent performance in CO2 absorption; 20% reductions of solvent circulation
rate and reboiler duty compared with aMDEA(TM) were achieved, keeping CO2 specification at
absorber overhead unaffected. The temperature profile in the absorber indicated that the CO2
absorption kinetics was much higher compared to aMDEA(TM). HiPACT showed much sharper and
narrower temperature bulge within the lower packing bed in contrast to aMDEA(TM)’s broader bulge.
There was no negative indication for operation such as foaming. Through numerous data acquisition,
the process modeling and simulation tools were updated.