CHAPTER 2

Syngas purification by common solvents

Daniel A. Flórez-Orregoa,b,d, Meire Ellen Gorete Ribeiro Domingosc,
Rafael Nogueira Nakashimaa, Mois
es Teles dos Santosc,
and Silvio de Oliveira Juniora
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Polytechnic School of University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil,
b
Faculty of Minas, National University of Colombia, School of Processes and Energy, Medellin, Colombia,
c
Department of Chemical Engineering, Polytechnic School of University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil,
d
Department of Mechanical Engineering, E
cole Polytechnique F
ed
erale de Lausanne, Switzerland

1. Introduction
The removal of acidic components from gaseous streams has been historically associated to the
purification of substances aimed to produce other chemicals. In fact, whereas the postcombustion
carbon capture in power generation plants is unusual [1]; in chemicals production facilities, the
precombustion carbon separation is an integral part of the industrial process [2]. Moreover,
unlike the flue gases derived from combustion, the process streams involved in the chemical
production plants convey a significantly higher acidic gas concentration, which facilitates the
separation task. This is the case of the syngas production plants, wherein a mixture with a variable
proportion of hydrogen and carbon oxides is produced as intermediate feedstock, in order to
manufacture other value-added products in further conversion processes. In those facilities, a
large amount of CO2 needs to be separated and handled as a process by-product. For instance, the
fabrication of 1 tH2 via the steam methane reforming route yields 6.5 tCO2; whereas 1.2 tCO2 are
generated per tNH3 produced [3]. The sellable CO2 can be vented to atmosphere or exported for
the production of chemicals, food or for enhanced oil recovery (EOR).
Acidic gas absorption in water was commonly employed in industrial ammonia facilities before
1940 [4]. However, due to its higher energy consumption and large loss of useful products, it
has been superseded by more complex purification solvents. Anyhow, the general concept of
acidic gas removal using common solvents has undergone modest modifications since it was
firstly patented in the 1920s [5]. At the time, organic compounds of amines class started to be
used for separating CO2 present in the natural gas from the saleable hydrocarbons [6].
Currently, various proprietary solvents are commercially licensed to yield desirable
characteristics for each application. Ideally, the solvents should guarantee improved selectivity,

Advances in Synthesis Gas: Methods, Technologies and Applications. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-91877-0.00018-0

Copyright # 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
27
 Syngas purification by common solvents 69

9
2 12

11 10 Condenser
Duty

Absorber 6
8

Reboiler
1 Duty

4 5 Desorber
7

Fig. A1
Stream numbers referenced in Tables A1–A4 for the chemical-absorption-based syngas purification
units [33].

20

19
17
18
Absorber
7
6 21
9
1
5 15
12
8
3
11 14
2
4
10 13 16

Fig. A2
Stream numbers referenced in Table A5 for the physical-absorption-based syngas
purification unit [33].

numbers in Fig. A1, whereas the numeration in Fig. A2 corresponds to the streams properties
reported in Table A5. These values have been calculated using proprietary Aspen Plus
software [19].

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