CONTAMINANTS TO BE REMOVED :

 • H2S
 • CO2
 • Other sulfur components : COS, RSH
Sweetening of natural gas is one of the most
important steps in gas processing because:
 Health hazards.
 Sales contracts.
 Corrosion problems.
Natural Gas Sweetening Processes can be
classified to:
 Batch solid bed absorption.
 Reactive solvents.
 Physical solvents.
 Direct oxidation to sulfur.
 Membranes.
SELECTION OF SWEETENING PROCESS:
 Type of impurities to be removed (H2S, mercaptans)
 Inlet and outlet acid gas concentrations.
 Gas flow rate, temperature, and pressure.
 Feasibility of sulfur recovery.
 Acid gas selectivity required.
 Presence of heavy aromatic in the gas.
 Well location.
 Environmental consideration.
 Relative economics.
Alternatives for natural gas sweetening.
 BATCH PROCESSES
1. Iron Sponge:
 Iron sponge fixed-bed chemical absorption is the most
widely used batch process. This process is applied to sour
gases with low H2S concentrations (300 ppm) operating
at low to moderate pressures (50–500 psig).
Carbondioxide is not removed by this treatment.
 The inlet gas is fed at the top of the fixed-bed reactor
filled with hydrated iron oxide and wood chips.
 The advantage of this process is the large savings in labor
cost for loading and unloading of the batch process. In
this case, higher sulfur recovery per pound of iron oxide is
obtained also.
The basic reaction is the formation of ferric sulfide when
H2S reacts with ferric oxide:
Typical iron oxide process flow sheet
-Zinc Oxide
2

 Zinc oxide can be used instead of iron oxide for the

removal of H2S, COS,CS2, and mercaptans. However,
this material is a better sorbent and the exit H2S
concentration can be as low as 1 ppm at a temperature
of about 300C
 The zinc oxide reacts with H2S to form water and zinc
sulfide:
ZnO + H2S = ZnS + H2O.
 A major drawback of zinc oxide is that it is not possible
to regenerate it to zinc oxide on site, because active
surface diminishes appreciably by sintering. Much of
the mechanical strength of the solid bed is lost due to
fines formation, resulting in a high-pressure-drop
operation.
 The process has been decreasing in use due to the
above problems and the difficulty of disposing of zinc
sulfide; Zn is considered a heavy metal.
3-Molecular Sieves
 Molecular sieves (MSs) are crystalline sodium alumino
silicates and have very large surface areas and a very
narrow range of pore sizes.
 They possess highly localized polar charges on their
surface that act as adsorption sites for polar materials
at even very low concentrations.
 This is why the treated natural gas could have very low
H2S concentrations (4 ppm)
 In order for a molecule to be adsorbed, it first must be
passed through a pore opening and then it is adsorbed
on an active site inside the pore.
Figure :Sweetening of natural gas by molecular sieves
LIQUID-PHASE PROCESSES
 This is one of the most commonly used processes for
acid gas treatment
 Chemical solvents are used in the form of aqueous
solution to react with H2S and CO2 reversibly and
form products which can be regenerated by a change
of temperature or pressure or both.
 Physical solvents can be utilized to selectively remove
sulfur compounds. They are regenerated at ambient
temperature by reducing the pressure.
 A combination of physical and chemical solvents can
be used.
LIQUID-PHASE PROCESSES
* Chemical solvents
1-Amine Processes.
 Monoethanolamine Solvent (MEA)
 Diethanolamine (DEA)
 Di-isopropanolamine (DIPA)
 Methyldiethanolamine (MDEA)
 Mixed Amines
2-Hot Potassium Carbonate Process.
*Physical solvents:
1-Fluor Process.
2-Purisol Process.
3-Selexol Process.
4-Sulfinol Process.
Table 2: Comparison of Chemical and Physical Processes
LIQUID-PHASE PROCESSES

* Chemical
solvents

1-Amine Processes
 The most widely used for sweetening of natural gas are
aqueous solutions of alkanolamines.
 They are generally used for bulk removal of CO2 and
H2S.
 The properties of several amines
- low operating cost
-flexibility of tailoring solvent composition to suit gas
compositions
- make this process one of most commonly selected.
Flows heat for the amine process