the fundabac for amine treatment drm - haakon...

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM

6th Jan. 2005 Paris, France

The FUNDABAC® for Amine Treatment

Martin PfeifferDrM, Dr. Müller AG

Switzerland

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM


Filtration Requirements in Gas TreatmentOil an gas processing industries are confronted with the removal of H2S, CO2 and other contami-nants from a raw gas stream.

A straightforward method is to pass alkanolamines in the form of MEA, MDEA, DEA, etc. through a scrubber to absorb the disturbing substances and "sweeten" the sour gases.

In circulating solvent systems, ingress of contaminants or degradation of the solvent is often inevitable.

The main problem areas are:• Fouling• Corrosion• Foaming

Flash Vessel

Flash GasA

bsor

ber

Circulation Pump

Heat Cross Exchanger

Cooler

Reboiler

Reg

ener

ator

Raw Sour Gas

Purified Gas Acid Gas

Fresh Solvent

Col

d Le

an S

olve

nt

Hot

Ric

h S

olve

nt

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM


The FUNDABAC®

The use of the FUNDABAC® system is an up-to-date solution to save investment and operating cost, improve amine plant performance and minimize environmental problems.

…and the solution ...

Flash Vessel

Flash GasA

bsor

ber

Circulation Pump

Heat Cross Exchanger

Cooler

Reboiler

Reg

ener

ator

Raw Sour Gas

Purified Gas Acid Gas

Fresh Solvent

Col

d Le

an S

olve

nt

Hot

Ric

h S

olve

nt

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM


The Advantages of FUNDABAC®

• Dry cake discharge• Excellent filter efficiency• High performance and

reliability• High flexibility• Minimum waste, no

slurry disposal• No water consumption• Low Operating and

maintenance cost

FUNDABAC® for amine treatment at BP Grangemouth (UK)

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM


Dry DischargeThe main characteristic of the FUNDABAC® is its ability to discharge the filtered impurities in a dry form. Dry discharge minimizes the loss of solvent and environmental impacts. Solids content in the filter cake can be as high as 70%. At this dryness the solids resemble a moist and crumbly powder, which can easily be handled for trouble free disposal or incineration.

QuickTime™ and aVideo decompressor

are needed to see this picture.



DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM


Filter Efficiency

FUNDABAC® Filters provide an unsurpassed filter efficiency down to 0.5 µm particle size and under.Even though the fraction of micron particles in the solvent may not be worrying at first glance, they can accumulate and cause severe fouling or foaming problems.With other filter types the cut-off sizes are typically between 5 and 10 µm.





DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM


Performance and ReliabilityOnce installed, a FUNDABAC®

does not require much attention.What worries other operators most is no issue with a FUNDABAC®: clogging or fouling of the filter media. Plants in operation prove what DrM guarantees: minimum two years of operation without a cloth failure. The completely enclosed system and fully automatic operation prevents operating personnel from exposure to the hazardous substances of the process.

FUNDABAC® for TOTAL-FINA gas terminal at South Pars (Iran)

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM


Flexibility

Filtration requirements may change after selection and installation of the equipment. The FUNDABAC®

Filter provides maximum flexibility to adopt to your requirements:

• you face excessive solids contamination?…the filter will clean up your system

quickly• you require a higher filter capacity?

…add more precoat and run at higher flux• you require a higher filter efficiency?

…change to a finer precoat grade• you are facing foaming problems?

…apply a multi layer precoat and adsorbhydrocarbons right in the filter

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM


Low cost

Thanks to the modular construction, no moving parts and high automation, investment and running costs are kept low, maintenance and disposal costs are cut to almost zero.

FilterPress

RecoveredAmine

Back-washtank

Amineslurry

Precoatsystem

Eliminated with dry discharge option

Filter Dry discharge furthermore eliminates a number of downstream equipment.

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM


Process

Typically, a 10 to 25% slip stream is taken off the main amine circuit and directed through the FUNDABAC® Filter for removal of particles, mainly iron sulphide. Then, a slip stream of 5 to 10% of the main amine circuit is taken off and fed through

FUNDABAC Filter

®

GasVent

Precoat pump

Precoat Tank

Filter Aid

Active Carbon

Filter

Polishing Filter

Cold Lean Amine (Main Stream A)

Vent

²p

²p

FI

Stream B

FI

.

.

Stream D

Stream C

Stream E

Optional

the (optional) carbon filter, for removal of hydrocarbons. Before being returned to the main amine stream, the slip stream is fed through the polishing filter for removal of any carbon fines carried over. Filtration is preferably performed on the lean side of the amine loop.

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM


Particle Filtration + Adsorption

Applying a combination of activated carbon and filter aid allows to run the adsorption process straight on the FUNDABAC®

without additional active carbon column. After saturation, the solids are dried and discharged into a container for disposal.

Filter Cake Fresh Filter Aid Fresh Carbon

Spent Filter Aid Spent CarbonFilter Cloth

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM


FUNDABAC® Construction

• Pressure Vessel• Filtrate Groups• Filtrate Outlets• Registers• Candles / Filter Media• Cake Discharge

Opening

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM


Candle Design and Filtration Procedure

The candle is based on the well-known FUNDABAC® design

Filtrate

Filter element

Filter media

Filter cake

Filtration / Dewatering:

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM


Candle Design and Filtration Procedure

Gas

Blow-Back:

Filter element

Filter media

Filter cake

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM


References and Case Information

TOTAL FINA ELF Iran – South Pars 2&3Supply of four Fundabac®Filters (skid mounted units)for total 4 x 58 m3/h leanamine streams. Includessupply of carbon andcartridge filters. The customermainly selected the filteramong other alternatives forits high reliability, fullautomatic operation and lowoperating and maintenancecost. (1999)

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM



SIRTE OIL Libya –Attahaddy ProjectSupply of fourFundabac® Filters (skidmounted units) for total200 m3/h lean aminestream. The customerwho is confronted withhigher or fluctuation sulfurlevels mainly selected thefilter for its outstandingefficiency and flexibility tohandle high levels ofimpurity. (2000)

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM



NEREFCO Netherlands –Upgrade ProjectNerefco decided to upgradetheir amine filtration andreplaced the existing systemwith the Fundabac® Filter. Thereplaced system, metal-leaffilters with back flush facilities,were limited in filter efficiencyand required frequent manualcleaning. In addition, thehandling and disposal of aconsiderable high amount ofcontaminated backwash slurrywas avoided. (2001)

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM



AGIP GAS B.V. Iran – South Pars 4&5Supply of four Fundabac® Filters (skid mounted units) for atreatment of 4 x 35 m3/h lean MDEA streams. Another two filters areinstalled in the Ethan treatment unit(CO2 removal).The supply includes carbonand cartridge filters.After the filters supplied byDrM for Phases 2&3 wereoperating to the fullsatisfaction of the customer,the Fundabac® was selectedagain. (2002)

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM


References and Case InformationAGIP LIBYA GAS PROJECT– Mellitah PlantThis is the last and biggestproject in gas treatmentever awarded to DrM. Itcomprises a supply oftwelve Fundabac® Filters(skid mounted units) for atreatment of total 1000 m3/hlean amine stream andincludes supply of carbonand cartridge filters.The customer mainlyselected the filter for theunique dry discharge ability,which solved his disposaland water shortageproblems (2003)

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM


Filter Efficiency

The photo shows samples taken in an operating amine plant before and after the filter. The samples have been filtered over a 1 micron lab filter:

Top left sample: Filter feed after 1 hour filtration, 42 mg/l

Top right sample: Filter outlet after 1 hour filtration, 2 mg/l

Bottom left sample: Filter feed after 15 hours filtration, 16 mg/l

Bottom right sample: Filter outlet after 15 hours filtration, <1 mg/l

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (LZW) decompressor


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Cost Comparison

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM


Quotes

BP / Agip Plant at Bayern-Oil (Germany)

„Three engineers from Nerefco and one from Washington visited BayernOil on12/2/01. They witnessed the backwash sequence and it "operated smoothly".BayernOil commented that in five years the only problem they've had was aleaking valve - no major repairs have been necessary. They have been verypleased with the filter's performance and reliability. It totally meetstheir requirements“

Robin Sanders UOP - Refining & Petrochemical ServicesGuildford, UKTel: + 44 1483 466341Email: [email protected]

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM


QuotesBP Grangemouth (UK)„A 30% slipstream of the amine is filtered in the DrM precoat filter with another 30% of this slipstream (i.e. 10% total amine) then passing through a carbon and cartridge filter. We have not had to do any unplanned maintenance on the filters. Last year we had to open up the filters for their initial inspection, this took about a week including a change of carbon. Minimal operator involvement is required, the system is mostly automated with only a few steps during filter cake discharge / filter precoating that require operator intervention.

We add new precoat material when the pressure drop across the filter reaches a set value, now that our system is relatively clean this is about every four months.

The filter keeps our amine in very good condition, when sampled the lean amine is always a nice clear straw colour. We haven't measured the % solids in the amine, we do measure Fe and this is usually <0.5 ppm. We haven't experienced problems with the precoat material contaminating the amine. The only problem we have had is a sticking valve during the filter cake drying / discharge procedure that resulted in the cake not being dried properly.

Generally the filters have been operated well and been trouble-free. The only comment I would make is that we didn't do a thorough enough job training our operators on the package and hence they are always very wary of the automated steps when we come to do a filter cake discharge / filter precoat and hence usually need help to do it.“

Steve Bygrave - at BP Grangemouth

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM


QuotesBayern-Oil (Germany)

"The slip stream is about 20-30% of the amine stream. Last year we had a turnaround of the unit for 14 days. We cleaned the filter and couldn't find any damage. We have not had any problems with that filter in the last 4 years. In principle, we do not need operator involvement. The filter is controlled by a program and monitored by delta P in the control room. Normally once a month we need new precoat material.

From my point of view this filter is absolutely reliable. It keeps the amine in a good condition. The amine is monitored by the vendor of the amine. The filter is able to remove enough solids from the amine.

The % of solids in the amine have not measured recently. The iron content in the amine is stable in a range between 3-5 ppm. From my point of view, it was a good investment to install that filter here in our refinery!"

Andreas Schueppel - at BayernOil

DrM, Dr. Müller AG

DrM


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the fundabac for amine treatment drm - haakon...

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