HANOI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Department of Automation Engineering

PROCESS CONTROL

Course Project: AMINE STRIPPER IN QUEST CCS Project

Instructor: Dinh Thi Lan Anh

Course code: 1433960

Semester: 20231

Group 15:
Nguyen Nam Khanh 20202791
Bui Ngoc Tien 20202773
Tran Ba Thanh 20202771
Nguyen Tuan Minh 20202794

Hanoi, 11/2023
Contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION..........................3
I. Carbon Capture and Storage Project in Shell Canada company..............3
II. Overall facitily design....................................................................................3
II.1 Design Concept............................................................................................................3
II.2 Design Scope....................................................................................................................4
II.3 Amine Stripper............................................................................................................4
Why use Amine?.....................................................................................................................5
What anime will be used?......................................................................................................5

CHAPTER 2: THE AMINE PROCESS...7

I. Simplified Process..........................................................................................7
 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
A breakthrough about Quest CCS Project –
(Carbon Capture and Storage) and some
information about Amine Stripper in Shell
Canada company.
I. Carbon Capture and Storage Project
in Shell Canada company
Global demand for energy is increasing and the challenge is to meet
the demand while still reducing our carbon footprint.
A part of Shell’s solution involves carbon capture and storage and that
is why they build quest at their upgrader. The upgrader turns thick
heavy oil from the oil sands called bitumen into synthetic crude that
can then be refined into everyday products such as gasoline and jet fuel. Fig 1. Shell Company
Shell uses hydrogen to upgrade the bitumen to a lighter oil. But making hydrogen creates
carbondioxide or CO2. Quest captures CO2 from the upgrader’s hydrogen manufacturing plants
with a product called Amine that absorbs the CO2. CO2 is separated from the amine and
pressurized into a liquid which can be transported by pipeline 65 kilometers to the injection wells
which are 2 kilimeters underground into layer of rock filled with interconnected pores. Then, the
CO2 is trapped with the pores and locked in many layers of solid watertight rock, consant
monitoring both above and below ground, making sure the CO2 stays safely and permanently in
place.
Quest is on track to capture and store over 1 milion tonnes of CO2 every year equivalent to the
emissions from 250,000 cars.
We know that if CO2 is in us beneath ground, it will be a huge problem. But by let them down
underground, there will have a solution.
II. Overall facitily design
II.1 Design Concept
The design concept for the Project is to remove CO2 from the process gas streams of the three
hydrogen-manufacturing units (HMUs), which are a part of the Scotford Upgrader infrastructure,
by using amine technology, and to dehydrate and compress the captured CO2 to a dense-phase
state for efficient pipeline transportation to the subsurface storage area. The three HMU’s
comprise two identical existing HMU trains in the base plant Scotford Upgrader and a third one
constructed as part of the Scotford Upgrader Expansion 1 Project, which has been operational
since May 2011.
 II.2 Design Scope
The design scope for the facilities includes:
• Modifications on the three existing HMUs
• Modifications on the three existing pressure swing adsorbers (PSAs)
• Three amine absorption units located at each of the HMUs
• A single common CO2 amine regeneration unit (amine stripper)
• A CO2 vent stack
• A CO2 compression unit
• A triethylene glycol (TEG) dehydration unit
• Shell Scotford utilities and offsite integration
• CO2 pipeline, laterals, and surface equipment
• Three injection wells
Since this is an extreme project which has many processes. In this report we will focus on
the anime stripper only.

II.3 Amine Stripper

One part of this Project is the Amine Stripper, an amine stripper is a unit operation commonly
used in chemical and gas processing industries. It is a key component of an amine gas treating
system, which is designed to remove acidic gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen
sulfide (H2S), from natural gas or other process streams.
The amine stripper serves the purpose of regenerating the amine solution used in the gas treating
process. The amine solution, typically a specific type of chemical solvent known as an amine,
absorbs the acidic gases from the feed gas stream in an absorber column. The rich amine
solution, containing the absorbed gases, is then sent to the amine stripper.
In the amine stripper, the rich amine solution is heated, often using reboilers, to a higher
temperature. The elevated temperature causes the absorbed acidic gases to be released from the
amine solution. This process is known as stripping or desorption. As the gases are stripped off,
they rise to the top of the stripper column and are removed, while the regenerated or lean amine
solution flows downward.
The stripped or lean amine solution is then sent back to the absorber column to continue the gas
treating process. The separated acidic gases from the top of the stripper column may undergo
further treatment or disposal, depending on the specific operational requirements and
environmental regulations.
The amine stripper plays a crucial role in maintaining the efficiency of the amine gas treating
system by continuously regenerating the amine solution, allowing it to be reused in the gas
absorption process. This helps ensure the removal of acidic gases from the feed gas stream,
meeting product specifications and environmental compliance requirements.
Overall, the amine stripper is a vital unit operation in amine gas treating systems, contributing to
the efficient and effective removal of acidic gases from process streams.
 Fig 2. Collects CO2 and releases others by using Amine techniques.(source:

Why use Amine?

- High efficientcy CO2 separate rates
- Easy to get ingredients, it can also be reused and long livetivity.
- Easy separate method
- Low cost
- Easy to construct, no need to change the structure of facilities.

What anime will be used?

This technology uses renewable chemical solvents that are weak bases. Basic solvents will react
with CO2 gas (acidic) to form a soluble salt solution. During solvent regeneration, these salts can
decompose by heat. Commonly used solvents are: monoethanolamine (MEA),
ethyldiethanolamine (MDEA), diethanolamine (DEA).

monoethanolamine

methyldiethanolamine
 diethanolamine

Collectively, we call these amines in the form HO-R-NH2

The basic reaction of this method is as follows:

2HO-R-NH2 + CO2 + H2O ↔ (HO-R-NH3)2CO3
The CO2 product after condensation will be dried and compressed to the appropriate pressure to
facilitate the collection process. The purity of CO2 separated from the absorption process with
amine solvent reached 99.9% volume.
Some data information of the stripper:

Size 6300 mm ID x 30400 mm T/T

Design PR. Temp 385 kPa-g @ 150 °C
Material CS + 3 mm 304L SS CLAD / 316L SS
Insulation Type H / 50 mm
Trim P-246123-DJB(0.4) (TOP)
P-246124-DJB(0.4) (BOT)

Explaination:
- Size: a vessel or tank with an inner diameter of 6300 mm and a total height or length of
30400 mm, including the top and bottom portions.
- Design PR. Temp: a pressure of 385 kilopascals above atmospheric pressure and a
temperature of 150 degrees Celsius.
- Material: a construction where a 3 mm thick layer of 304L stainless steel is clad onto a
carbon steel base, and there is an additional layer of 316L stainless steel present. This
type of construction is often used to provide corrosion resistance or other desired
properties to the base material.
- Insulation Type: Insulation of a H type is used with a thickness of 50 millimeters.
- Trim: a specific trim configuration or design, identified by the part number P-246123-
DJB, with a possible size or characteristic of 0.4, and it is installed at the top of the
control valve.
 CHAPTER 2: THE AMINE PROCESS
I. Simplified Process

Rich amine from the absorbers is heated in the lean/rich exchangers by crossexchange with hot, going
downward to the bottom of the amine stripper. As the lean/rich amine flows down the trays of the
stripper, it comes into contact with hot, stripping steam, which causes desorption of the CO2 from the
amine. The amine stripper is equipped with 2 x 50% kettle reboilers that supply the heat required for
desorption of CO2 and produce the stripping steam required to reduce the CO2 partial pressure. The
low-pressure steam supplied to the reboilers is controlled by a feed-forward flow signal from the rich
amine stream entering the stripper and is trim-controlled by a temperature signal from the overhead
vapour leaving the stripper. The CO2 stripped from the amine solution leaves the top of the amine
stripper saturated with water vapour at a pressure of 54 kPa(g). This stream is then cooled by the
overhead Quest Carbon Capture and Storage Project Annual Summary Report - Alberta Department of
Energy: 2014 Section 1: Overall Facility Design Shell Canada Limited March 2015 Page 1-10 condenser.
The two-phase stream leaving the condenser enters the reflux drum, where separation of CO2 vapour
from liquid occurs. In addition to the vapour–liquid stream from the overhead condenser, the reflux
drum also receives purge water from the HMU 1 and HMU 2 water wash vessels, as well as knockout
water from the CO2 compression area. The reflux pumps draw water from the drum and provide reflux
to the stripper for cooling and wash of entrained amine from the vapour. Column reflux is on flow
control, with drum level control managed by purging excess water to wastewater treatment. CO2 is
stripped from the rich amine to produce lean amine by kettle-type reboilers and collected in the bottom
of the amine stripper. The hot, lean amine from the bottom of the stripper is pumped by the lean amine
pumps to the lean/rich exchanger, where it is cooled by cross-exchange with the incoming rich amine
feed from the HMU absorbers. The lean amine is further cooled by the lean amine coolers, which are
shell and tube exchangers. The lean amine is cooled to its final temperature by the lean amine trim
coolers, which are plate and frame exchangers. A slipstream of 25% of the cooled lean amine flow is
filtered to remove particulates from the amine. A second slipstream of 5% of the filtered amine is then
further filtered through a carbon bed to remove degradation products. A final particulate filter is used
for polishing of the amine and removing carbon fines from the carbon-bed filter. The filtered amine is
then pumped by the lean amine charge pumps to the three-amine absorbers