[gas_treater]

Is there any correlation between amine strength and foaming problem in MDEA system (i.e : higher strength will reduce the potency for foaming problem)?

Thank you very much.

[eugenedakin]

Hello gas_treater,

As a general rule of thumb... no, there is no signifacent correlation between amine strength and foaming problems in MDEA systems... The only time that I have seen foaming in the field is due to two common types of contamination: 1) Particles or 2) hydrocarbons.

A severely high concentration of MDEA will cause the system to be inefficient due to insufficient contact, and poor reaction due to the lack of enough water to facilitate the sweetening reaction.

I hope this helps, and if you have any further questions, feel free to ask

Cheers,

Eugene

[gas_treater]

Very helpful, eugenedakin! Thank you very much.

I also heard from a gas treater plant operator that a gas treating operation with higher amine strength in circulation will give a consequence in higher amine loss due to higher vaporization in regenerator. Is that true? What I really know is water has higher tendency to vaporize than MDEA, and that's why we use stripping for amine regeneration.

Thank you and best regards

[eugenedakin]

Hello gas_treater,

In a normally operating system when you are having losses in the gas contactor (due to misting), the higher amine strength of your circulating fluid will also be lost in a proportionate manner.  This is why many contactor towers have demisters in them.

However, this is not true on the reboiler side.  If there are amine losses in the reboiler, and you have a higher amine concentration, this means that you have some other factor causing losses, such as excessive foaming. 

Water has a lower boiling point than MDEA, this is why water is lost before MDEA in the reboiler.

I wish you the best, and I hope this has been helpful

Cheers,

Eugene

[gas_treater]

Very helpful, as always. Thank you very much. eugenedakin!

Have a good time!