Iran has managed to produce a much-needed solvent used in sour gas sweetening process, director of research and technology at National Iranian Gas Company said.
Saeed Pakseresht said Iranian refineries will soon see their sweetening solvent consumption rise from the current 5,300 tons to 13,000 tons a year.
“Indigenization of this solvent is among projects which started five years ago,” he said.
Sour natural gas compositions can vary over a wide concentration of H2S and CO2 and a wide concentration of hydrocarbon components. If the H2S content exceeds the sales gas specification limit, the excess H2S must be separated from the sour gas. The removal of H2S from sour gas is called sweetening.
While most of the sour gas is sweetened with regenerative solvents, for slightly sour gas, it may be more economical to use scavenger solvents or solid agents.[3] In such processes, the compound reacts chemically with the H2S and is consumed in the sweetening process, requiring the sweetening agent to be periodically replaced.
