"Low Pressure Re-Absorber and Its Integration with Sulfur-Rich Solvent Flash Drum Or Sulfur-Rich Solvent Stripper in an Absorption Unit" in Patent...
"Low Pressure Re-Absorber and Its Integration with Sulfur-Rich Solvent Flash Drum Or Sulfur-Rich Solvent Stripper in an Absorption Unit" in Patent Application Approval Process (USPTO 20150375163)
By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Life Science Weekly -- A patent application by the inventors Wen, Xiaoming (
Palatine, IL
); Zbacnik, Edward P. (
Fox River Grove, IL
);
Ulas Acikgoz, Saadet (
Des Plaines, IL
); Zhou, Lubo (
Inverness, IL
), filed on June 17, 2015, was made available online on January 7, 2016, according to news reporting originating from
Washington, D.C.
, by NewsRx correspondents (see also
Patents).
This patent application has not been assigned to a company or institution.
The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: "The invention relates to removal of acid gases-carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2) and sulfur-containing components such as hydrogen sulfide (H.sub.2S) and carbonyl sulfide (COS) that are simply referred to as sulfur components or sulfur from a gas mixture that contains acid gases such as synthesis gas (syngas) or natural gas. In a process of acid gas removal by solvent, a specified sulfur concentration in the produced acid gas stream is required by the downstream sulfur recovery unit. To meet the sulfur specification of the acid gas stream, equipment for enriching sulfur content in the acid gas stream, such as sulfur-rich solvent flash drum(s), concentrators with product gas stripping and the combination of the two have been used in acid gas removal units. For example, in US 2013/0036911, a syngas treatment configuration having two flash drums to enrich the acid gas is provided to produce acid gas stream with 40 mol % H.sub.2S or higher as required by a Claus unit for sulfur recovery. The main concept of a re-absorber is that the sulfur content in the sulfur-rich solvent from the bottom of a sulfur absorber is concentrated by stripping off carbon dioxide with stripping gas, such as a flash gas from the overhead of a sulfur-rich solvent flash drum (rich flash gas) and nitrogen, in the bottom part of the re-absorber, which produces a CO.sub.2-rich gas (the function of a concentrator), and that the sulfur components in the CO.sub.2-rich gas is absorbed by contacting with solvent in the upper part of the re-absorber (the function of re-absorption). The advantage of a re-absorber design over the conventional sulfur-rich solvent flash drum/concentrator design is that the overhead of the re-absorber is vented or sent out as CO.sub.2 product instead of being recycled back to the sulfur absorber, which avoids the additional capital and operating costs related to the increase of throughput of the sulfur absorber and the carbon dioxide absorber if so equipped by the recycle gas from the sulfur-rich flash drum/concentrator.
"This invention also relates to heat integration in a process of acid gas removal by solvent. In these types of processes, various gas streams containing carbon dioxide can have very low temperatures. The cold gas in those streams can be utilized to cool other process streams in the unit that requires low temperature, such as the lean solvent, to reduce the utilities that are required to cool the other process streams."
In addition to the background information obtained for this patent application, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors' summary information for this patent application: "A system and process is provided in which a re-absorber and a sulfur-rich solvent flash drum or a sulfur-rich solvent stripping column are operated at pressures that avoid the use of any compressor to send the overhead of the sulfur-rich solvent flash drum or sulfur-rich solvent stripping column, the rich flash gas, to the re-absorber and provide for considerably lower operating costs. In another aspect of the invention, configurations are provided that maximize the ability to allow various gas streams to heat or cool other streams as necessary and thereby significantly reduce energy requirements.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
"FIG. 1 shows the results of an optimization study on the re-absorber pressure for a specific case.
"FIG. 2 is an exemplary schematic for an acid gas removal system and process having a low pressure re-absorber integrated with a sulfur-rich solvent flash drum and having configurations that allow various CO.sub.2-containing or CO.sub.2-rich gas streams to cool other streams, according to this invention.
"FIG. 3 is another exemplary schematic for an acid gas removal system and process having a low pressure re-absorber integrated with a sulfur-rich solvent flash drum and having configurations that allow various CO.sub.2-containing or CO.sub.2-rich gas streams to cool other streams, according to this invention.
"FIG. 4 is another exemplary schematic for an acid gas removal system and process having a low pressure re-absorber integrated with a sulfur-rich solvent stripping column (or stripper) and having configurations that allow various CO.sub.2-containing or CO.sub.2-rich gas streams to cool other streams, according to this invention."
URL and more information on this patent application, see: Wen, Xiaoming; Zbacnik, Edward P.; Ulas Acikgoz, Saadet; Zhou, Lubo. Low Pressure Re-Absorber and Its Integration with Sulfur-Rich Solvent Flash Drum Or Sulfur-Rich Solvent Stripper in an Absorption Unit. Filed June 17, 2015 and posted January 7, 2016. Patent URL: http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.html&r=7366&p=148&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&S1=20151231.PD.&OS=PD/20151231&RS=PD/20151231
Keywords for this news article include: Sulfur, Patents, Chemicals, Chemistry, Chalcogens, Carbon Dioxide, Inorganic Carbon Compounds.
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