Background
A large natural gas processing facility in Texas operates an amine system for CO₂ removal. Consistent amine quality and system stability are critical to maintaining plant efficiency, reducing chemical consumption, and controlling operating costs.
Challenge
The plant was experiencing severe foaming in its amine system, resulting in:
- Excessive antifoam injection and increased chemical costs
- Reduced system efficiency and higher operating expenses
- Elevated CO₂ residuals, silicone contamination, and poor amine quality.
Compounding the issue, the plant’s fixed carbon filter was offline due to mechanical problems, leaving no on-site capability to clean the amine stream. An immediate mobile treatment solution was needed to stabilise the system and prevent further performance losses.
Solution
Puragen deployed two mobile carbon filters in a lead/lag configuration to provide continuous, high-efficiency amine purification.
This mobile treatment allowed the plant to continue operations while repairs were made to its fixed filter.
Results
Over a five-month operating period, the system achieved significant performance improvements, including a >50% reduction in residual CO₂, 50% reduction in amine viscosity, 90% reduction in silicone residual and amine recovery improved from 90% to 97.6%.
- Stabilised Amine System:: Reduced foaming and restored efficiency during the fixed vessel outage
- Improved Operating Costs: Lower antifoam usage and better amine recovery cut expenses
- Operational Flexibility: The mobile system enabled continuous treatment of a dirty amine stream without process interruption
- Enhanced Purification After Repairs: Once the fixed filter was back online, further amine color and quality improvements were observed.
