Amine system problems arising from heat stable salts and solutions to improve system performance

This paper includes the significant on-site experience of the authors related to problems faced in amine systems and their possible solutions. Various reasons for the poor functioning of the amine system have been discussed. The amine system was designed as a closed circuit system with the primary objective of removing H2S, CO2, and other acidic components from liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon streams. A study of a model plant was considered wherein problems were solved systematically using the root cause analysis (RCA) approach. Heat stable salts were found to be one of the reasons for the mal-operation of the plant. The strategies were proposed for combating heat stable salts. For the plant under study, ion-exchange method was more suitable compared to off-site thermal reclamation. Overall annualized benefits by switching from offsite thermal reclamation to ion exchange based on-line reclamation were of the order of 2 MM US $ and simple payback of less than a year.