Amine problems at a compression station in Texas

[operatorjames]

I work at a 40 MMSCF compreesor station in Texas. We run 2 MDEA trains and a TEG regenerator. My big problem is my amine still that swings both pressure and level and it is a handful adjusting REDA flows and accumulator pressures. I'm looking for a pro with a few minutes.

 

[EmmanuelTop]

1. Is this a new problem, or it goes all the way back from the day No.1?

2. How the Regenerator bottom level behaves (erratic)?

3. How the heat input is controlled? Fired heater reboiler? If such, how the individual flow passes are controlled?

4. Try increasing the regenerator overhead pressure if nothing else works, and let us know if anything changes.

There is very little data given from your side so we can't be of much assistance. Is Amine still = Regenerator?

Regards,

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

 

[quadtracker]

Check your gas flow through the contactor, is it steady, at high flow rates the amine will tend to be held up in the tower and once flow drops the level in the tower will fall down which will accumulate in the bottom of the tower which will present itself as a high level an call for the level control to dump more out. Another cause of level flucuations in the tower is caused by amine foaming caused by dirty amine or high level of condensate in the amine. This erratic flow rate to the amine still can cause changes in the level and pressure, especially if you have hydocarbon contamination. Take a sample of both rich and lean amine and send it to a lab to get it tested for contamination. I worked in a plant with an amine system, the contactor was foaming so bad it carried out amine with the gas, tried using anti-foam (Band-aid solution) ended up changing filters more often, eventually no more foaming problems.

 

[operatorjames]

I apologize for the lack of data on my post and appreciate your time. We were in the process of bringing up the second amine train. We had water washed, circulated and cleaned the hot oil for the reboiler and seemed to be lined out. There were a few issues:

1)Level Indicator on Reflux Accumulator sporadically giving a false 100% level which automatically opened the valve 100% and drained the Accumulator quickly. This has not been fixed and I'm forced to keep a close eye on it and tap it with a wrench to reset it when it malfuctions.

2)Hot Makeup Oil Heater had to be adjusted. The swing on the cycle was such as it would keep going down with any moderate change in Amine flow thru the Reboiler.

3)Change in the Reboiler happened often due to Lo-Lo Pressure in the Still (Stipper). This would take out my Booster and Solution Pumps.

The plant is running well this hitch save for the fact that I cannot run my Amine flow over about 130 GPM or my REDA pulls my Boosters down. All screens have been cleaned, I've run my accumulator at a higher pressure, and changed the P50 sock filter any time I saw it impeding flow from the Flash Tank to the still. I pull hydrocarbons from the Weir in the Flash 3 or 4 times a day and the top of the Carbon Filter every hour.

Foam has been an issue and I wonder if it might be what causes my Boosters to cavitate so often. The good news is that we are treating 26 MMSCF of gas with a 11-13% CO2 down to about 2.5%.

 

[cckanand]

Mr. Quadtracker
Ypu are advising to check the contamination of lean and rich amines in the lab. What all are the parametrs that we have to analyse in the lab

Mr.Operatorjames
You are experiencing the foaming problem in both amine absortion trains simultaniously or not