Journal of Cleaner Production 39 (2013) 321e328

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Journal of Cleaner Production

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Rectisol wash process simulation and analysis

Li Sun, Robin Smith*
Center for Process Integration, School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, The University of Manchester, Manchester M60 1QD, UK

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Rectisol wash is becoming increasingly popular as a sour gas treating, especially integrated in the pol-
Received 15 November 2011 ygeneration systems. Two configurations of single-stage Rectisol wash and two-stage configuration are
Received in revised form analysed and simulated in Aspen Plus for the property model rectification and the process comparison.
29 May 2012
The model PC-SAFT is revised for binary interaction parameters modification, and the revised model is
Accepted 30 May 2012
verified based on practical process design data. The revised PC-SAFT is determined as the thermody-
Available online 13 August 2012
namic property model in the process simulation. The two configurations compare in the aspects of the
acid gas removal ability, heat recovery, equipments requirement, power consumptions, and environment
Keywords:
Rectisol wash
emission and environment costs.
Model verification Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Sour gas emission
Heat recovery

Rectisol wash was developed in the 1950s, and is mainly used
for the sour gas purification to obtain very small quantities sour
contaminants in the treated gas. It also produces a concentrated
H2S stream as Claus plant feed for sulphur production and CO2
offgas essentially free of H2S.
Sour gas removal options include chemical absorptions, physical
absorptions and membrane separation. Amine processes as typical
chemical absorptions (Ai et al., 2005), like monoethanolamine
(MEA) (Robert et al., 1987), diethanolamine (DEA) (Al-Baghli et al.,
2001), and methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) (Aliabad and Mirzaei,
2009), generally are suitable for low to medium acid gas concen-
trations (Mark et al., 1996). MDEA selectively removes H2S while
allows a large fraction of CO2 to slip through unabsorbed (Pani et al.,
1997).
Membrane separation is a promising alternative for acid gas
capture from gas streams (Franz and Scherer, 2010). Even though
most membrane contactors are designed mainly for carbon dioxide
removal (Shishatskiy et al., 2010), some others are conducted on
acid gases of SO2 and H2S removal (Mansourizadeh and Ismail,
2009). The separation efficiency is greatly dominated by
membrane characteristics, combination of membrane and absor-
bent (Li et al., 2005), and membrane modules (Bai and Winston Ho,
2011). Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) (Hufton et al., 2011) is also
utilized for bulk CO2 removal.
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: robin.smith@manchester.ac.uk (R. Smith).
Physical absorption processes are most efficient and economical
when it operated at higher pressure and lower temperature (Kohl
and Nielsen, 1997). Rectisol wash has advantages that set it apart
from other physical processes like Selexoland Purisol. Firstly, Rec-
tisol wash is for H2S, COS and CO2 removal simultaneously, as well
as other impurities like HCN and NH3 separation (Weiss, 1988).
Purisol is applied for H2S removal with CO2 remaining in the treated
gas (Fischer et al., 2002). Selexol is preferable while deep H2S and
CO2 removal is not required (Ranke and Mohr, 1985; Kubek et al.,
1996). Fluor process is mainly for CO2 removal with little or no
H2S present (Bucklin and Schendel, 1984). Secondly, the solvent
methanol (Rectisol) absorption ability for H2S, COS and CO2 is
higher than other solvents like water or NMP (N-Methyl-2-
Pyrrolidone, Purisol) (Burr and Lyddon, 2008). For instance, the
ratios of H2S solubility in methanol (
30  C) to that in water (35  C)
and NMP (35  C) are 51.1 and 3.3 respectively. The amount of CO2
dissolved in methanol (350 Nm3CO2/t methanol) is about 51.7 and
9.7 times that in water and NMP respectively (Chang and Rousseau,
1985). Methanol’s powerful absorption ability means less solvent
usage and regeneration. Thirdly, methanol has high selectivity
towards sour components (Leu et al., 1992). As shown in Table 1,
H2S, COS, and CO2 have greater solubility in the methanol than CH4,
CO, N2 and H2 (Rousseau et al., 1981). Hence, sharp separation
would be achieved for complete sulphur and CO2 removal (less
0.1 ppm H2S and COS, CO2 recovery efficiency more than 95%).
Fourthly, lower operating temperature and higher pressure lead to
higher solubility of sour component in the methanol solvent. The
solubility of H2S in methanol reduces by 60% while the temperature
increases from
40  C to
20  C, and by more than 80% while the

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.05.049
322 L. Sun, R. Smith / Journal of Cleaner Production 39 (2013) 321e328
Table 1
Relative solubility in methanol at
40  C.
Component H2S COS CO2 CH4 CO N2
Relative solubility 5.9 3.6 1.0 0.027 0.012 0.0058
temperature rises from
40  C to 0  C. There are little variations on
the solubility of CH4, H2, and CO when operating temperature
varies. Thereby, Rectisol is favoured at very low temperatures
(
20  C to
70  C) to obtain more selective absorption. Of course,
the lower operating temperature needs more refrigerants and
greater power. Fifthly, the solvent methanol has low boiling point at
64.7  C. It is beneficial for less additional heat supply and refrig-
eration duty loss during the solvent regeneration by pressure
reduction. In addition, the thermal stability and chemical stability
of the solvent methanol are not significantly impaired at lower
operating temperature, with no degradation, less corrosion, and
lower viscosity.
The Rectisol is flexible and is configured depending on the sour
gas feed and the final products specifications (Korens et al., 2002).
In this paper, two Rectisol configurations evaluate in terms of acid
gas removal ability, equipments demand, pollution emission, and
power consumption based on the process simulation.
Rectisol operating at high operating pressure and low temper-
ature would cause less accurate process simulation while select the
available thermodynamic models directly from the Aspen Plus
database. Therefore, the property model for the process simulation
needs to be revised and verified based on practical process data or
literatures.
1. Rectisol wash integration in the polygeneration systems
The Rectisol is becoming increasingly popular as synthesis gas
treatment in coal or other hydrocarbons gasification, chemicals and
liquids oil production processes. For example, coal to liquids (Yu
et al., 2010; Ng et al., 2012), natural gas to diesel (Sudiro and
Bertucco, 2009), and biofuel production (Ponton, 2009). It usually
integrates in the polygeneration systems (Richard et al., 2010). In
Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC), Rectisol wash is
involved in the fuel gas production for power generation.
The Rectisol integration in the polygeneration system is shown
in Fig. 1. Crude syngas (primarily of H2, CO, water steam, CO2, with
small amounts of H2S, COS, CH4, Ar and N2) is produced through
gasification and shift units, and then purified by the Rectisol to
meet further chemicals or liquids oil production. The syngas
ASU Feed preparation
Natural gas
Gasification Heavy oil
Coal, etc
Shift Power Generation
CO2
Steam Island
Crude syngas
Rectisol Wash
Acid gas removal
Syngas Claus Plant
Fischer-Tropsch synthesis
Product up-grading Sulphur
Liquid fuels, synthesis ammonia, urea,etc
Fig. 1. Rectisol wash integration in polygeneration systems.
composition depends on the gasification feed and the gasify type.
The sour gas removal specifications are determined by the syngas
H2 application. Almost 100% H2S and at least 95% CO2 should be
0.0023 removed from the syngas for Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis. In
IGCC, about 90% carbon should be captured. The syngas purification
requirement is different for MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether), acetic
acid, formaldehyde production.
After Rectisol operation, the H2S rich stream is fed to a Claus
plant for sulphur production. The CO2 stream would be raw
material in the ammonia synthesis production or liquefaction and
storage underground.
2. Process configurations
The Rectisol wash process consists of two main sections: sour
components absorption and the solvent regeneration. The latter
section includes CO2 and H2S desorption and solvent dehydration.
In terms of the unit operations, the Rectisol contains absorption,
flash, stripping, distillation, and heat exchanging.
In this study, two typical Rectisol wash schemes are considered
and simulated respectively using Aspen Plus for the property model
rectification and the process analysis.
The typical Rectisol wash configurations are single-stage Rec-
tisol and two-stage configuration. The basic difference between the
two configurations lies in their absorption operation, i.e. the sour
components of H2S/COS and CO2 absorption are carried out either
in single absorber or in two columns in series. Moreover, this also
causes different solvent regeneration subsystem. There are two
solvent regeneration subsystems in the two-stage configuration,
but only one regeneration subsystem is required in the single-stage
configuration.
Also, the water content in the sour feed should be reduced to
less than 0.1  10
6 to prevent freezing and blocking of the
equipments.
2.1. Single-stage configuration
The process flow configuration in Fig. 2 is the typical Linde
technology. There is no heat integration in this flow sheet. The
crude syngas feed, containing H2S, COS and CO2 in addition to H2,
CO, N2 and CH4, is cooled to
21  C and fed to the bottom of the
absorber T101 at 33 bar. The methanol solvent temperature
is
50  C.
H2S and COS are highly soluble in the chilled methanol solvent
compared to CO2. Therefore, T101 is designed into two sections: the
upper section is intended for CO2 removal, while the lower is for
H2S and COS absorption with less solvent. The purified syngas is
retrieved from the top of T101. There are two rich solvent streams
exiting from the column T101: H2S/CO2 rich methanol from the
column bottom and the spare CO2 rich solvent drawn out from the
division of the two sections.
H2S and CO2 absorption in Methanol is an exothermic process.
To prevent the poor absorption while the solvent temperature rises,
T101 has liquid-side draw cooling loops returning liquid at
34  C.
One loop is shown in the process flow chart Fig. 2. Practical
absorption normally has 3e4 loops.
The regeneration of the rich solvent operates in three ways:
flash at the reduced pressure, stripping by syngas or inert gas, and
distillation. Additionally, CO and H2 dissolving in the rich solvent to
some degree would cause hydrocarbons loss and environmental
impact, so CO and H2 would be recovered before H2S/CO2 separa-
tion during the solvent regeneration.
The CO2 rich solvent from the bottom of the upper section in
T101 flashes in the flash vessel D101 at 11 bar for CO and H2
recovery, and in D102 at 5 bar for CO2 removal. The H2S/CO2 rich
 L. Sun, R. Smith / Journal of Cleaner Production 39 (2013) 321e328 323

Sour gas to Claus E112

E113

Tail gas D104

Syngas D105
E111
E103 E110
Methanol
E108
T104
E104 T101
E101 T102
T102
T101 T101
T103
T101
T101 CO rich solvent CO2 E115
2
Soul gas
E105
E102 D102 E109
N2 Water
H2, CO E116
H2S/CO2 D101 E114
rich solvent Recycle
Methanol recycle
E106 E107 D103

Fig. 2. Single-stage Rectisol wash configuration.

solvent from the bottom of T101 flashes in D103 at 12 bar to recycle
CO and H2 back to the raw syngas. The rich solvent is then trans-
ferred to the H2S enriched stripper T102 to desorb CO2 by both
reducing operation pressure and N2 stripping. Next, the solvent is
fed to the distillation column T103 for H2S separation from the
solvent. The lean methanol solvent is dehydrated in column T104 to
obtain anhydrous solvent for circulation.
There are three emission gas in this configuration, and they are
CO2 flashing gas of D102 with CO2 content more than 99.5% (mass
fraction), less tail gas from the T102 overhead containing CO2, N2,
and less 100 ppm H2S and COS, and H2S sour gas of H2S and COS left
from the top of T103. The pollution emissions reduction would
increase the process economic performance through the
improvement in productivity and decrease the environmental costs
(Lee and Rhee, 2005; Nishitani et al., 2011).
In this configuration, the CO2 flashing gas compresses for CO2
liquefaction and under earth storage at normal temperature and
high pressure (35  C, 80 bar). This CO2 capture and storage (CCS)
follows the Copenhagen Agreement of 2009 (UNFCCC, 2009) about
the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission significantly in the
next decades.
The H2S sour gas is sent to a Claus plant for sulphur produc-
tion. The tail gas rate and GHG contents are small in this
configuration.
2.2. Two-stage flow configuration
The two-stage flow configuration has two absorption columns
and two solvent regeneration subsystems (see Fig. 3).
The absorption operation with the solvent methanol in two
series columns of T101 and T103 can realize the sour purification:
H2S as well as COS removal to less than 1 ppm from the sour gas in
the first column T101 and CO2 removal in the second column T103.
The H2S rich solvent and CO2 rich solvent after the two stages
absorption separately are regenerated in two independent
subsystems through the operation of multi-stage flash at low
operating pressure (just one flash in the process flow chart) and
stripping at high temperature. There are two emission gases in this
configuration, and they are CO2 flashing gas of D102 and H2S sour
gas containing H2S and COS from the top of T102. The CO2 flashing
gas compresses for under earth storage. The H2S sour gas is for
sulphur production in Claus plant.

Sour gas to Claus

Syngas
E113
E103 E108 E110
D105
Methanol-1

E104 Methanol-2
E101 CO2
CO2 T102 T103
T101
Sour gas H2, CO recycle E112 H2, CO recycle

E112-2
E102 E105
E109
H2S/CO2
rich solvent E111
E106 E107
D101 D102 D103 D104
Methanol recycle
Methanol recycle

Fig. 3. 2-stage Rectisol wash configuration.

324 L. Sun, R. Smith / Journal of Cleaner Production 39 (2013) 321e328

Table 2 the single-stage configuration, the overhead gas from the T101 and
Interaction parameters supplement (Gelbeim, 2008). H2S/CO2 rich solvent from the T101 bottom imply the sour gas
i CH3OH CH4 H2S removal ability with the fixed sour gas feed and solvent rate. They
j COS COS COS
are key streams in the property model verification.
The Aspen Plus simulation of the single-stage Rectisol is shown
aij
15.335 271.31 75.680
aji 609.43
103.94 229.32 in Fig. 4.
bij 0 0 0.003298 The absorption-based process comparison is for the model
bji 0 0
0.5352 verification. T101 performs sour gas absorption with two pump-
around cooling loops. There is also a solvent side stream with-
drawn from T101 two sections division. T101 is equivalent to a 4-
3. Process simulation and model verification column series labelled T101-1 to T101-4 in the simulation (shown
in Fig. 5) for more convenience of the simulation convergence.
The single-stage configuration is from 200,000 t/y methanol The key streams in this separation are stream 3, 4, 2, where,
production in Shanghai, China. The two-stage process and data are stream 3 is the purified syngas from the top of T101, and stream 2
from the literature (Gelbeim, 2008). However, these simulations are and stream 4 are CO2 rich solvent and H2S/CO2 rich solvent
still missing the feed gas water separation and heat integration. respectively.
Table 3 shows the practical process data of key streams as the
3.1. Thermodynamics of the Rectisol model basis of property model verification. Where, stream 1 is the raw gas
fed to the bottom of T101, and stream MEOH1 is the methanol
In this paper, just the single-stage configuration simulation in solvent in the absorption operation. Stream 3, 4, 2 can reflect the
Aspen Plus compares with the practical process design data to T101 separation ability.
rectify the thermodynamic model. Four thermodynamic models Table 4 shows the simulation data of corresponding streams 3, 4,
including PENG-ROB, PSRK, RK-ASPEN, and PC-SAFT from the 2 based on different property models with the same capital/oper-
Aspen Plus database are selected for vapour pressure, liquid ating parameters.
density, heat capacity, enthalpy, and phase equilibrium calculation The simulation temperature of the top column has enormous
in the simulation. variation compared with the design data based on the models:
The shortage interaction parameters between the components PSRK, PENG-ROB, and PK-ASPEN. This is due to the difference of the
COS and CH3OH/CH4/H2S in the PSRK model are extracted from the quantities of CO2, H2 and CO2 dissolved in the solvent, especially
literature (Horstmann et al., 2000), shown in Table 2. CO2 dissolution. Hence, these three models are not suitable for
All the simulations based on these four thermodynamic models Rectisol simulation. Most simulation results based on the PC-SAFT
are fully converged. model (Aspen Technology, Inc, 2008) match the design data
except for the CO2 concentration (around 15% error). The amount of
3.2. Property model verification stream 4 in the simulation also has about 30% error compared with
the practical value. Thus, the model PC-SAFT would be corrected
The comparison between the practical process data and simu- based on the practical process data for the process simulation and
lation results can illustrate the thermodynamic model validity. In analysis.

E1 03
E1 13

3 SYNGAS SOURGAS 116

103 D1 07
E1 04-1 20
13 TAILGAS
E1 12
104-2
E1 10
T101-4
MEO H1 T101-3
104-1
102 T102-2 19
T101-2
E1 11
101 D1 04
17
103-1

202-1 21
E1 04-2 16
102-1
18
102-2 103-2 E1 08 MEOHRCY

202
SP L1
202-2
15
E1 01
11 T103
5
26
SP L2
T101-1 E1 05 CO 2
25
T102-1 22
6
D1 01
E1 07
D1 02
1 23
7
8 9
4 N2 14
24
E1 02 T104
E109
12 E1 14
RECYCLE
E1 06
RA WG AS D1 03
WA TER
10

Fig. 4. Single-stage Rectisol wash simulation in Aspen plus.

 L. Sun, R. Smith / Journal of Cleaner Production 39 (2013) 321e328 325

a b 3, Syngas
3, Syngas
E104-2
Solvent
Solvent
E104-1
T101-1 T101-3
T101 T101
T101
E104-2
Sour gas T101 E104-1
2, CO2 rich solvent
CO2 rich solvent to D101
2 to D101
T101-2 T101-4
T101 T101 Sour gas

4, H2S/CO2 rich solvent 4, H2S/CO2 rich solvent

to D103 to D103

Practical column Equivalent columns in simulation

Fig. 5. H2S/CO2 removal absorber diagram.

3.3. Property model correction though both the two Rectisol configurations can fulfil the sour gas
separation, they are significantly different based on the criteria of
The model PC-SAFT is implemented as a guide for modelling the process heat recovery, the equipments demand, power require-
CO2 capture process with methanol. The binary interaction ments, and pollution emission.
parameters are modified and regressed against the practical The sour gas absorption operates at reduced temperature ach-
process design data, and listed in Table 5. Revised PC-SAFT can ieved by refrigerants like Propane and Ethane. Solvent regeneration
reproduce the simulation values matching the design data greatly. involves an endothermic process that provides cooling duty to the
From the comparison of the streams leaving the absorber T101 absorption feed. This heat integration is vitally important for
between the simulation results based on the revised PC-SAFT increasing cold recovery and reducing the use of refrigerants. The
model and process design data in Table 6, almost all the simula- lower operating temperature and large rate of the refrigerants
tion data match the process design data except inert components mean more power consumption and higher operating cost in the
data of N2 and Argon, which would not affect the absorption and refrigeration system. It also follows the waste-to-energy approach
desorption analysis greatly. (Stehlík, 2009).
The revised PC-SAFT model is determined as the physical model The process power and energy demand mainly lie in the
of Rectisol wash simulation. refrigeration system, the feed gas and the solvent transportation.
Electricity, gas turbines, and steam turbines in the utility plant
4. Process analysis and comparison would satisfy this power demand. More power demand from the
process implies additional fuel combustion in the power plant, and
Rectisol’s complex flow scheme and the solvent refrigerant would cause extra greenhouse gas emission and environment cost
demand would cause higher capital and operating costs. Even (Urbaniec and Grabarczyk, 2009), and it is not beneficial for
improving the process power and energy efficiency (Dovì et al.,
Table 3 2009).
Main streams data in the practical process. Table 7 compares the heat recovery and power demand both of
Stream description Rawgas Solvent Purified H2S/CO2 CO2 rich the configurations with the same feed gas and the gas purity
feed syngas rich solvent solvent requirement. These values are extracted from the grand composite
Stream ID 1 MEOH1 3 4 2 curves at the minimum temperature difference 10  C after heat
Temperature C
20.59
50
38.8
19.1
20.9 integration in the process (Smith, 2005).
Pressure bar 34 44 33 33 33 The power required for the refrigeration system is calculated
Mole flow kmol/hr 4221 5118 2830 2821 6840
using an approximate model based on the coefficient of perfor-
Mole flow kmol/hr mance (COP) (Smith, 2005) which is the ratio of the refrigeration
H2 1944.615 1929.211 6.4883 15.732 cycle cooling duty to its shaft work requirement. Actual perfor-
N2 11.8188 11.603 0.093093 0.2052
mance is typically 60% of ideal, but can be much lower for complex
CO 802.3699 780.514 9.3093 23.256
AR 4.6431 4.528 0.05642 0.1368 cycles operating at extremely low temperatures.
CH4 7.5978 7.075 0.22 0.5472
CO2 1443.118 96.786 593.5384 1412.46 Qc Qevap Tevap
Actual COP ¼ ¼ ¼ h (1)
H2S 5.44509 0 5.7266 0.001368 W W Tcond
Tevap
CH4O 1.219869 5118.52 0.3396 2195.02 5368.03

Mole fraction Where,

H2 0.4607 0.6817 0.0023 0.0023 Qc cooling duty (MW) ¼ refrigerant evaporation duty (MW)
N2 0.0028 0.0041 0.000033 0.00003
W refrigeration cycle shaft work requirement (MW)
CO 0.19009 0.2758 0.0033 0.0034
AR 0.0011 0.0016 0.00002 0.00002 Tevap evaporation temperature (K)
CH4 0.0018 0.0025 0.000078 0.00008 Tcond condensing temperature (K)
CO2 0.34189 0.0342 0.2104 0.2065 From Table 7, it is clear that the single-stage configuration
H2S 0.00129 0 0.00203 0.0000002 achieves heat recovery around 2.4 times that of the two-stage
CH4O 0.000289 1 0.00012 0.7781 0.7848
configuration. The refrigeration power demand by the single-
326 L. Sun, R. Smith / Journal of Cleaner Production 39 (2013) 321e328

Table 4
The Comparisons of Output streams of T101 based on different physical models.

PENG-ROB PSRK RK-ASPEN PC-SAFT

Stream ID 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 4 2
Temperature C
49.7
18.7
18.7
49.5
20.6
20.9
49.6
14.7
13.7
39.8746
20.2815
20.5024
Pressure bar 33 33.205 33.025 33 33.205 33.025 33 33.205 33.025 33 33.205 33
Mole flow kmol/hr 2760.9 2866.6 6546.7 2734.5 2863.7 6598.2 2763.1 2887.7 6505.7 2840.3 3689.1 6489.8
Mass flow kg/hr 26850.1 99180.5 225947.6 26523.3 98694.6 227375.7 26895.6 100132.9 224189.9 31099.3 127000.0 223000.0

Mole flow kmol/hr

H2 1940.85 1.66 3.73 1924.95 8.55 19.59 1941.44 1.41 3.13 1931.96 7.25 12.66
N2 11.59 0.10 0.23 11.65 0.07 0.17 11.76 0.03 0.06 11.43 0.22 0.39
CO 796.62 2.53 5.68 786.40 6.94 15.92 798.00 1.95 4.28 773.76 16.30 28.51
AR 4.50 0.06 0.14 4.26 0.17 0.38 4.54 0.05 0.10 4.35 0.17 0.29
CH4 7.25 0.15 0.34 7.07 0.23 0.53 7.32 0.13 0.27 6.75 0.48 0.84
CO2 0.03 639.88 1416.54 0.04 625.70 1441.41 0.00 662.10 1377.45 111.84 756.57 1327.44
H2S 0.00 5.45 0.00 0.00 5.45 0.00 0.00 5.45 0.00 0.00 5.45 0.00
CH4O 0.06 2196.97 5074.72 0.11 2196.85 5074.84 0.04 2196.80 5075.03 0.22 2902.69 5119.71

Mole fraction
H2 0.703 0.001 0.001 0.704 0.003 0.003 0.703 0 0 0.680192 1.97E-03 1.95E-03
N2 0.004 0 0 0.004 0 0 0.004 0 0 4.02E-03 5.97E-05 5.94E-05
CO 0.289 0.001 0.001 0.288 0.002 0.002 0.289 0.001 0.001 0.272421 4.42E-03 4.39E-03
AR 0.002 0 0 0.002 0 0 0.002 0 0 1.53E-03 4.52E-05 4.50E-05
CH4 0.003 0 0 0.003 0 0 0.003 0 0 2.38E-03 1.30E-04 1.30E-04
CO2 0 0.223 0.216 0 0.218 0.218 0 0.229 0.212 0.039375 0.205081 0.204541
H2S 0 0.002 0 0 0.002 0 0 0.002 0 0 1.48E-03 6.49E-15
CH4O 0 0.766 0.775 0 0.767 0.769 0 0.761 0.78 7.73E-05 7.87E-01 7.89E-01

stage configuration is just one third of that by the two-stage regeneration subsystems mean extra capital cost and complex
configuration. Therefore, the single-stage configuration is a more operation.
desirable option regarding the less energy and power consumption. Normally, the two-stage configuration is selected in the case
It is meaningful to consider these configurations environ- that the shift unit is located after the sulphur recovery. Shift
mental costs. CO2 as the main greenhouse gas, its emission to conversion is operated to satisfy the syngas with suitable molar
the environment would contribute the environmental costs stoichiometric ratio ðSR ¼ H2 =CO ¼ 2 to 2:2Þ with the following
greatly. CO2 emission comes from two sources in the Rectisol reaction:
process: process CO2 separation and CO2 indirect emission due
to the fuel burning in the power plant to provide process power CO þ H2 O4H2 þ CO2 : (2)
and energy demand. In these configurations, the process CO2 is
separated from the sour gas and compressed to be liquid for
underground storage to prevent its emission to air. The amount Table 6
The data comparison of streams leaving absorber T101.
of indirect CO2 emission is identified by the process power and
energy demand. Thus, the less process energy and power Stream ID 3 4 2
consumption in the single-stage configuration implies less CO2 Simulation Error Simulation Error Simulation Error
indirect emission. Temperature
40.2 0.037
20.1 0.053
20.2
0.034
For the other pollutant gas, the tail gas small rate and less C
pollution gas contents reduce the environment impact greatly. The Pressure bar 34 0.03 33 0 33 0
recovered sour gas of H2S and COS are for sulphur production in the Mole flow 2824.4
0.002 2828.1 0.003 6502.8
0.049
kmol/hr
Claus Plant.
Mass flow 30398 97436 224000
From the above discussion, these two configurations follow the kg/hr
cleaner production concepts.
Mole flow
The two-stage configuration contains double absorptione kmol/hr
desorption subsystems in series. The two absorbers involved in H2 1931.95 0.001 5.56
0.143 12.70
0.193
the two-stage configuration act the same role (H2S and CO2 N2 11.43
0.015 0.17 0.812 0.39 0.878
absorption) as the absorption column in the single-stage CO 773.77
0.009 12.48 0.341 28.50 0.225
AR 4.35
0.039 0.13 1.264 0.29 1.133
configuration. The two-stage configuration’s two solvent
CH4 6.75
0.045 0.37 0.671 0.84 0.535
CO2 95.90
0.009 587.32
0.01 1340.32
0.051
H2S 0.00 0 5.45
0.049 0.00
1
CH4O 0.21
0.393 2216.64 0.01 5119.75
0.046
Table 5
Interaction parameters correction. Mole
fraction
i CO2 H2S H2 0.684029 0.003 1.97E-03
0.145 1.95E-03
0.151
j Methanol Methanol N2 4.05E-03
0.013 5.97E-05 0.808 5.93E-05 0.975
aij 0 0 CO 0.273964
0.007 4.41E-03 0.337 4.38E-03 0.289
bij 0.02456573
0.04015458 AR 1.54E-03
0.037 4.52E-05 1.258 4.49E-05 1.243
cij
0.00449643
0.05477222 CH4 2.39E-03
0.043 1.30E-04 0.667 1.29E-04 0.615
dij 0 0 CO2 0.033955
0.007 0.207672
0.013 0.206114
0.002
eij 0 0 H2S 0 0 1.93E-03
0.052 0
1.000
Tref 298.15 298.15 CH4O 7.30E-05
0.392 0.783789 0.007 0.787316 0.003
 L. Sun, R. Smith / Journal of Cleaner Production 39 (2013) 321e328
Table 7
Energy and power Comparisons.
Single-stage 2-stage
Process heat recovery, kW 17,417
Minimum hot Utility, kW 10992
Minimum cold Utility, kW CW 3967 CW
Refrigerant 3087 Refrigerant
Total 7054 Total
Refrigeration power, kW 1719
The first stage of the two-stage configuration is desulphuriza-
tion before shift reaction, and almost all H2S and 95% CO2 are
removed. After shift conversion, the CO2 content in the treated gas
increases about 35%. The second stage in the two-stage configura-
tion is for the additional CO2 separation to guarantee the syngas
complete sour components removal.
5. Conclusions
Rectisol wash is the efficient sour gas treatment technology to
achieve the total sulphur down to 0.1 ppm, and CO2 removal.
Rectisol wash normally involves in a polygeneration system.
In this paper, the thermodynamic property model PC-SAFT is
revised with binary interaction parameters modification and veri-
fication based on practical process design data at high operating
pressure and low operating temperature. The revised PC-SAFT is
reliable to obtain the accurate Rectisol wash process simulation
with Aspen Plus to provide detail process streams and power data
for fully understand of the process.
Two configurations of two-stage and single-stage Rectisol are
analysed qualitatively. Both of them can fulfil the sour gas separa-
tion, but they are different in the aspect of process power and
energy demand. The power consumption of the refrigeration
system is the most important part of the process power demand in
the Rectisol wash. The refrigerant demand in the single-stage
configuration is just about 34% of that in the two-stage configura-
tion, and the power consumption in the refrigeration system is
about 36% of the two-stage flow sheet with the same sour gas feed
and separation requirement. The reduction of the refrigerant
demand is caused mainly by more process heat recovery realiza-
tion. The endothermic process in the solvent regeneration provides
the chance of the heat integration to cool the sour gas feed and
chilly solvent. Thus, the single-stage configuration is more prefer
regarding the less process energy and power demand. The reduc-
tion of the process energy and power demand also implies less
indirect greenhouse gas emission from the fuel combustion in the
power plant.
Rectisol wash process follows cleaner production concepts. H2S
is recovered from the sour gas and transfer to be Sulphur in the
Claus Plant. The recovered CO2 from the sour gas compresses to be
liquid for under earth storage instead of pollutant emission. There is
no sulphur and CO2 emission.
The two-stage configuration is appropriate in the case of H2/CO
Shift operation located after the sulphur recovery to guarantee the
complete sour gas separation. It is beneficial for the environment
improvement by separating and capturing almost all CO2 for
storage or recycle as raw material. The two-stage configuration’s
two absorptionedesorption subsystems signify additional capital
cost and complex operation.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to express their appreciation to the funding
from BP International Limited, UK.
327
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