Patent Application
20140374654
1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to an absorbent that is adapted for the removal of hydrogen sulfide and other sulfur species from liquid and/or gaseous streams and more particularly to a stable iron (II) oxide and/or hydroxide that is particularly adapted to absorb hydrogen sulfide and other sulfur species from liquid and/or gaseous streams. Methods for making and using the absorbent are also disclosed.
2. Description of Related Art
Various liquid and/or gaseous streams, including hydrocarbon streams such as natural gas liquids (“NGL”), crude oil, acid-gas mixtures, carbon dioxide gas and liquid streams, anaerobic gas, landfill gas, geothermal gas, and the like, also often contain significant quantities of sulfur compounds. Some sulfur compounds that are often found in such streams include hydrogen sulfide, mercaptans and dimethyldisulfide. Particularly in the case of hydrocarbon streams, these sulfur compounds generally must be removed in order to meet emission standards and pipeline requirements.
Because of the noxious, toxic and corrosive nature of sulfur-containing compounds, many different products and methods have previously been disclosed for use in removing such compounds from hydrocarbon streams. One such commercially available product is SULFATREAT® brand particulate reactant that is said to be useful for removing hydrogen sulfide and other sulfur contaminants from gases and liquids including, for example, hydrocarbon fuels and geothermal steam for sale to producers of natural gas and the like. SULFATREAT® is a federally registered trademark of M-I L.L.C. of Houston, Tex., and, in stylized form, of Gas Sweetener Associates, Inc. of Chesterfield, Mo. The SULFATREAT® material has a proprietary formulation but is believed to comprise primarily ferric oxide particles having a high surface area. Iron sponge is another commercially available material composed of ferric oxide distributed on wood chips that is being used for sulfur removal in industrial processes.
Another known process for removing hydrogen sulfide from hydrocarbon streams is the use of a caustic scrubber or amine unit. Most of these processes involve the use of an alkaline solution such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Compared to these processes, the disclosed stable iron (II) oxide and/or hydroxide system shows greater sulfur capacity when using the same amount and concentration of caustic solutions.
Another commercially available product is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,744,841 and 7,943,105. This absorbent has been found to be particularly effective at absorbing hydrogen sulfide, mercaptans, dimethyldisulfide and other sulfur-containing compounds from various fluids including natural gas, light hydrocarbon streams such as natural gas liquids, crude oil, acid gas mixtures, carbon dioxide gas and liquid streams, anaerobic gas, landfill gas, geothermal and other sulfur-containing streams. This absorbent can be composed of ferrous carbonate, most preferably siderite granules or powdered siderite that is extruded or otherwise aggregated, compacted or formed into pellets, pills or spheres using a minor amount of water and optionally a binder. The ferrous carbonate used to form these particles is generally of a size where 90% pass through a 100 mesh screen, which corresponds to approximately 150 micrometers. The final absorbent preferably has dimensions ranging from about 4 to about 12 mesh or about 1.7-4.7 mm. and is deep red in color. This sorbent is capable of achieving sulfur loading of 10 to 20% by weight of the sorbent (25-50% based on iron content).
Despite the commercial success of the products covered by U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,744,841 and 7,943,105, there is still a need for an improved absorbent that is capable of removing sulfur compounds from liquid and/or gaseous streams, and in particular hydrogen sulfide from hydrocarbon streams.
The invention involves the formation of a stable iron (II) oxide and/or hydroxide. Preferably these oxides and/or hydroxides are present as nanoparticles in the 5-10 nanometer range. It has been discovered that such particles can be formed at lower cost and with fewer impurities by using ferrous carbonate (FeCO3) from siderite as compared to known processes from various iron salts such as sulfates and chlorides. The novel nanoparticles are particularly adapted to remove sulfur compounds such as hydrogen sulfide (H2S) from liquid and/or gaseous streams.
The patent or application file contains at least one drawing executed in color. Copies of this patent or patent application publication with color drawing(s) will be provided by the Office upon request and payment of the necessary fee.
For a more complete understanding of the present invention and for further advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
The present invention can be better understood by the following discussion of the manufacture and use of certain preferred embodiments. All data disclosed below regarding time, temperature, amount of components, concentration in % by weight, etc. are to be interpreted as also including all values lying in the range of the respective measuring accuracy known to the person skilled in the art. All disclosed ranges are to be interpreted as also including all values lying within the stated range. Unless otherwise stated, technical grades of the various materials were used in the preferred embodiments.
In a preferred embodiment, the novel stable iron (II) oxides and/or hydroxides are prepared from ferrous carbonate (iron (II) carbonate or FeCO3) and more preferably from siderite. Siderite predominantly comprises ferrous carbonate, and is usually found naturally in combination with some calcium, magnesium or manganese. For use in the compositions and various methods of the invention, the siderite can be sourced in the form of chunks, granules, or finely divided powder. If sourced in chunks, the chunks are desirably reduced to granules of a suitable size or powdered prior to use. Although it will be appreciated upon reading this disclosure that ferrous carbonate can be synthesized, the use of ferrous carbonate obtained in naturally occurring siderite mineral ores is preferred for economic reasons. Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary (Twelfth Edition) reports that siderite ores naturally occur in Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Europe.
A processed siderite composition having a bulk density of 110 pounds per cubic foot, a specific gravity of 3.63 and a particle size of 90% through 100 mesh, has the following analysis:
Pristine siderite particles are typically 100 mesh (approx. 150 micrometers), are light brown in color and do not stay suspended in water or alkaline solutions unless agitation is used. When suspended in alkaline solutions at room temperature, siderite particles are stable since their color remains the same. However, it has been discovered that if the siderite particles are suspended in an alkaline solution and also heated to at least about 40-50° C., the particles will gradually darken until they turn black. If the particles are removed from the alkaline solution by filtration and washed with water, the black particles will revert to a brown color.
This proves that the ferrous carbonate in the siderite has been converted to iron (II) oxides and/or hydroxides, which are being stabilized by the alkaline solution. Iron (II) oxide is a black colored powder that is not soluble in water, alkali or alcohol. It is also thermodynamically unstable in air at temperatures below 575° C. and will disproportionate to metal and the iron (III) oxide (Fe3O4). Thus, iron (II) oxides are rarely found in nature since they are so unstable. Iron (II) hydroxide is a green colored powder (green rust) that often appears black. It is not soluble in alkali and highly unstable in water, forming Fe3O4 and H2 following the Schikorr reaction. It is important to notice that all forms of iron (II) hydroxides have different atomic arrangements; therefore they would have a wide variety of tonality. While Fe3O4 is also dark in color, this species is stable in air and thus is not the black particles formed in the preferred embodiment. Although iron (II) oxides and/or hydroxides are formed in the preferred embodiment, the preferred embodiment may still contain some iron (II) carbonate, as well as other iron species including iron (III) compounds (e.g. ferric oxide) and/or mixed oxides such as Fe3O4.
The currently preferred alkaline solutions are potassium hydroxide (KOH), sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH). For KOH, the minimum concentration to react siderite at 40-50° C. within 10-20 minutes is about 0.7 M. In order to react it and also absorb sulfur, it is preferred to have at least a caustic to iron molar ratio of at least about 4:1 and more preferably from about 4:1 to about 6:1. For other alkaline solutions, the minimum concentration, temperatures and molar ratios could be different. It is important to mention that when NaOH was used, no additional heating was needed to react the siderite because the temperature was raised to 40-50° C. by the exothermic characteristic of the dilution of a concentrated NaOH.
The nano-sized particles of stable iron (II) oxide and/or hydroxide have been found to be especially effective at removing sulfur compounds such as H2S from liquid and/or gaseous streams. Specifically, the particles have been found to have a sulfur loading that is greater than 100% by weight of iron. This compares to the use of a solid packed bed of calcined siderite) that typically has a sulfur loading around 10-20% of the sorbent weight. Typical caustic scrubbers have to be operated at low liquid hourly space velocity (1-3 LHSV) in order to have a long contact time, ranging from 0.3-1 hours. In this case, the system was operated at higher space velocities (20 LHSV), which results in a contact time of 0.05 h, and it was still showing high sulfur loading. In the preferred embodiment, the system was operated at room temperature and atmosphere pressure, but further increases in pressure and temperature may favor the absorption process. The ability of the sorbent of the preferred embodiment to operate at short contact times and ambient temperature and pressure while still providing high sulfur loading provides a significant advantage over typical caustic scrubbers. It is important to notice that the time and area of contact can be highly improved by using the preferred design discussed below.
Without being bound by theory, it is believed that the following formula can explain the particularly high H2S absorption of these particles:
Since the iron (II) electronic configuration is 3d6, it can hold up to four HS− ligands. Based on this proposed structure, the calculated sulfur loading of the sorbent would be approximately 2.87 times (287%) the iron content on a weight basis. Iron, to a certain extent, could also be reacting with H2S directly to form iron sulfide as shown below:
mFeO/(Fe(OH)2+nH2S→lFeS+pH2O
where m, n, 1 and p could be any number that would balance the equation. It is reasonably expected that the spent absorbent can be regenerated by different techniques such as the addition of caustic, heating, oxidation, stripping, reaction, etc. The spent sulfide absorbent is non-hazardous since it is stable in the presence of oxygen at room temperature and has a final pH that is below 11.
The liquid and/or gaseous stream can be brought into contact with the absorbent of the preferred embodiment through the use of any method currently known or developed in the future. For example, if the stream is in the gaseous phase, a bubbler can be used to pass the gas through an alkaline solution in which the sorbent of the preferred embodiment is suspended. This catalyst could be used in batch, continuous stirred tank, tubular and packed bed flow reactors, including any type of flow (basic flow, split stream, concurrent, countercurrent, etc.) and any type of arrangement.
A schematic for one preferred system that can be used to contact the absorbent with a liquid and/or gaseous stream containing H2S or other sulfur compounds is shown in
In addition to sulfur removal, the process for producing the novel sorbent of the current invention can also be used to produce stable iron (II) oxides and/or hydroxides for numerous other purposes as well. For example, iron nanoparticles of stable iron (II) oxide and/or hydroxide are conventionally produced from different iron salts such as sulfates and chlorides. The process disclosed herein provides an alternate method of producing these iron nanoparticles that is more economical and produces products with fewer impurities (anions). These stable iron (II) oxide and/or hydroxide particles can be used for various applications such as the production of magnetite (Fe3O4) which is used in magnetic recording media such as tapes or discs. The stable iron (II) oxide and/or hydroxide particles can also be used for the production of hydrogen, such as in the Schikorr reaction, or catalytic processes involving hydrogenation or dehydrogenation.
Further, high purity H2S could be recovered from the spent absorbent by using different techniques, for e.g. the addition of acids, and be used for the production of organosulfiu. compounds. To the extent that the acid used in this process is sulfuric acid or another sulfate based acid, the other resulting product of this reaction would be iron sulfate. The iron sulfate would separately be a valuable product for use in fertilizers.
The invention can be further understood by means of the following examples, which are provided to illustrate but not limit the invention.
A blank caustic solution composed of 60 ml 1M KOH solution was introduced into a glass bubbler. The sample was at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. A flow of 20 standard cubic centimeters per minute (sccm) of 6000 parts per million (ppm) of H2S in a nitrogen (N2) carrier (6000 ppm of H2S/N2) was passed through the caustic solution in the bubbler. This results in a space velocity of 20 LHSV. The outlet gas was monitored by a gas chromatograph (GC) in order to quantify the amount of H2S that is absorbed. The blank was run for 76 hours before showing a breakthrough of H2S.
One gram of siderite (principally FeCO3) was suspended by agitation in 60 ml of a 1 M KOH solution using a magnetic stirrer and heated to 40-50° C. until the color of the solid particles turned from light brown to black. This took approximately 10-20 minutes. Upon cessation of agitation, the black particles precipitated to the bottom of the flask showing a clear liquid phase on top. Due to their magnetic nature, they also agglomerated around the magnetic stirrer bar when it was not being agitated. The resulting suspension was analyzed using transmission electron microscopy as shown in
Ten milliliters of the resulting suspension were introduced into a glass bubbler containing the spent blank caustic solution from Example 1 and 6000 ppm of H2S/N2 were passed through the suspension in accordance with the procedure set forth in Reference Example 1. No GC peak associated with H2S was visible on the GC for 20 hours, at which point there was a breakthrough of H2S. That is, the entire 6000 ppm of H2S were completely removed from the stream during 20 hours. After 20 hours of being exposed to the H2S stream, the sorbent sample in the bubbler showed a solid phase on the bottom and a clear grayish-yellow liquid phase on top. The black solid particles were still highly magnetic. Assuming a linear correlation between time to breakthrough and moles of KOH from Example 1, if the H2S removal was based solely on the amount of KOH in the sample of Example 2 (0.173 moles), that sample would have been expected to last only 12 hours before breakthrough. However, the sample of Example 2, which included the absorbent of the current invention, actually lasted for 20 hours before breakthrough. Thus, Example 2 shows a substantial improvement in sulfur removal over the blank caustic used in Example 1.
The pH of the alkaline solution in Example 2 was measured before and after the addition of one gram of siderite. Both values were similar, with a pH of about 13. This was confirmed by titration with HCl. In order to prove the consumption of part of the KOH by the ferrous carbonate from the siderite to form the stable iron (II) oxide and/or hydroxide, more siderite was added to the alkaline solution. In this case, as the siderite concentration increased, the pH difference was greater confirming that part of the KOH was being consumed to form the stable iron (II) oxide and/or hydroxide. It is important to notice than the difference in pH when adding one gram was not noticeable because of the large excess of KOH.
The liquid phase of the spent catalyst was analyzed with a microscope. The largest particle observed was 3 micrometers, however most of the smaller particles (nanometer range) were below the range that the microscope could measure. Even at the largest end, this reflects that the original 150 micrometer particles were reduced in size to be at least 50 times smaller.
The percentage sulfur loading of the sorbent can be calculated as follows:
In a typical reaction using a solid packed bed of shaped and calcined siderite, the resulting sulfur loading at breakthrough would be between 10-20% (25-50% based on iron content). However, the calculated sulfur loading of the sorbent used in Example 2 was between 120-300% based on the iron content. This sulfur loading is determined as follows: when adding 10 ml of the alkaline stabilized iron (II) oxide and/or hydroxide, 0.0017 moles of iron (0.066 g) and 0.173 moles of KOH were added. Assuming a linear correlation between time to breakthrough and moles of KOH from Example 1, 0.173 moles of KOH would last for 12 hr. This implies that iron was absorbing H2S for 8 hours, showing a 120% sulfur loading based on the iron content. However, it is not known if there is a linear correlation between time to breakthrough and moles of KOH. Therefore considering 20 hours of absorbing H2S by the sorbent alone, the sulfur loading could be as high as 300%.
Further, as there was no agitation of the sorbent in the glass bubbler, part of the black solid particles dropped down to the bottom and were not directly exposed to the 6000 ppm of H2S/N2 flow. As a result, the actual mass of sorbent that reacted in the bubbler could be much less than the 0.165 grams that was started with. This would appear to be the case due to the presence of a solid phase that contained black particles that were still highly magnetic. This would make the sulfur loading even higher than the value estimated before.
A second addition of 10 ml of sorbent prepared in the same manner as set forth in Example 2 was added to the spent caustic solution in the bubbler after the breakthrough was reached in Example 2. 6000 ppm of H2S/N2 were again passed through the suspension in accordance with the procedure set forth in Reference Example 1 and the system started absorbing H2S again. It is important to notice that in this case the life of the sorbent was 10 hours before breakthrough, which is shorter than the first time. Consequently, it is believed that the molar ratio between OH− and Fe+2 should preferably be at least 4-6:1. Without being bound by theory, it is currently believed that this ratio allows for sufficient caustic to be able to convert the ferrous carbonate in the siderite to ferrous oxide/hydroxide as well as stabilize it so that it can then absorb H2S. If the ratio is lower, the caustic may be able to react the siderite but it might not show a long life in absorbing H2S. In addition, the fact that the alkaline solution was sitting exposed to air for a few days between Examples 2 and 3 could also have resulted in the reduced sorbent life shown in Example 3. Without being bound by theory, the exposure of the alkaline solution to air for few days could have resulted in the absorption of CO2 to form potassium carbonates, which would decrease the concentration of OH−. The liquid phase of the spent sorbent in Examples 2 and 3 was then titrated with HCl in order to quantify the amount of caustic in the solution. During the titration, gas bubbles were being produced and released from the liquid. The gas was identified as H2S by the rotten egg smell released. In addition, during titration, the spent catalyst changed color from a clear grayish-yellow to clear green. This suggests that iron (II) chlorides (FeCl2) were being formed. This provides further evidence that the initial black catalyst contains an iron (II) species.
As discussed above, when stable iron (II) oxide and/or hydroxide was exposed to water, the particle color changed spontaneously from black to brown. Following Schikorr reaction, Fe3O4 is formed when Fe(II) hydroxides are exposed to water. In order to probe the absorption capacity of these iron species, 60 ml of water and 5 ml of the stable iron (II) oxide and/or hydroxide in the 1 M alkaline solution created according to Example 2 were added into a bubbler. Then 20 sccm of 6000 ppm of H2S/N2 were fed into the bubbler and the sample lasted approximately for 6 hours before breakthrough of H2S was detected in the outlet gas using GC. The pH of the sample before absorption was 12.6 and 9.6 after absorption. The color of the spent sample in this case was green and also showed a black precipitate at the bottom. In this case, assuming again a linear correlation between the initial concentration of KOH and hours of absorption, 5 ml of 1 M KOH would be expected to last for 6 hours before breakthrough. Therefore, the F3O4 nanoparticles didn't seem to show any H2S absorption capacity. It is important to consider that, there is no proof related to the linearity of the correlation between concentration of KOH and life, therefore more experiments are needed to understand the absorption capacity of F3O4 nanoparticles. It is currently believed though that the reactivity of iron (II) hydroxides towards the absorption of sulfur is much higher than the reactivity of iron (II) oxides.
Example 1 was repeated but using a 20% (3.6 M) NaOH solution instead of KOH. The outlet gas was monitored by a GC in order to quantify the amount of H2S that was absorbed as set forth in Example 1. It is important to mention in this case that during the adsorption of H2S, low solubility sodium salts such as sodium sulfide (Na2S) and sodium bisulfide (NaHS) were being produced and accumulated at the bottom of the bubbler making this process commercially difficult to operate.
Example 2 was also repeated using NaOH instead of KOH for the conversion of siderite and the absorption of H2S. In this case, 7 grams of siderite were added to 60 ml of a 20% (3.6 M) NaOH aqueous solution under magnetic agitation in order to have a caustic to iron molar ratio of about 6:1. Following mixing, black particles precipitated to the bottom of the flask and agglomerated around the magnetic bar. After the siderite was converted to the stable iron (II) oxide and/or hydroxide, it was introduced into a bubbler and 20 sccm of 6000 ppm of H2S/N2 were fed as described in Example 1. The outlet gas was monitored by a GC in order to quantify the amount of H2S that was absorbed as set forth in Example 1. In this case, after absorbing approximately also 7 grams of sulfur over the same time period, a breakthrough was detected by the GC. The spent sorbent had a different appearance than the blank sample mentioned above. In this case, the sample was at least 80% liquid when it broke through. Consequently, another benefit of the sorbent of the current invention is that it makes the composition less difficult to work with.
In this example, the sorbent of the current invention when stabilized with NaOH instead of KOH did not result in an increased capacity for sulfur removal as compared to the blank NaOH caustic. However, the sorbent of the current invention does render it practical to remove sulfur in a commercial process. The blank caustic completely solidified while removing sulfur, which renders the process not feasible on a commercial scale. In contrast, the sorbent of the current invention remained at least 80% liquid at breakthrough. In addition, in contrast to spent caustic the spent material using the sorbent of the current invention is a safe, stable in air, non-hazardous and non-malodorous material. The spent sorbent can also be easily used to produce high purity desorbed hydrogen sulfide for use in downstream specialty chemical manufacture. In a commercial scale process, the blank NaOH caustic would not be allowed to convert entirely to solids as was done in this Example. Instead, it would be necessary to replace the caustic after approximately 1-2 grams of sulfur have been removed in order to allow the process to keep going. In contrast, in an embodiment of the sorbent of the current invention that is stabilized with NaOH, the amount of sorbent used would still be able to remove the entire 7 grams of sulfur in a commercial scale process. Thus, even where the theoretical sulfur removal capacity is approximately the same, the sorbent of the current invention still provides a significant advantage over the use of blank NaOH caustic as it would not lose a significant portion of its theoretical sulfur removal capacity when being scaled up to a commercial process.
In accordance with the teachings of U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,744,841 and 7,943,105, powdered siderite was mixed with a binder and water in order to produced formed particles. The final product was then dried and calcined at 350° C. The pale brownish color of siderite changes to deep red after calcination as shown in
The comparison between the results of Reference Example 6 to Example 2 shows that the sorbent of the current invention provides a significant improvement over the prior ferrous carbonate absorbent. Assuming with respect to Reference Example 6 that there was 34 grams of iron and a 50% sulfur loading, one can calculate that the amount of sulfur removed from the fluid stream before breakthrough was 17 grams. Assuming the lowest sulfur loading of 120% for the sorbent of the current invention and ignoring the effect of the alkaline used to stabilize the sorbent, it would be expected that the sorbent of the current invention would require only a little over 14 grams based on the weight of iron in order to be able to remove the same 17 grams of sulfur from the fluid stream without breakthrough. If the sulfur loading is instead 287% as predicted based on the structure set forth in paragraph 16, it would instead only be expected to require approximately 5.9 grams based on the weight of iron to remove the same 17 grams of sulfur without breakthrough. Alternatively, if enough sorbent of the current invention were used to provide 34 grams by weight of iron, then (again ignoring the effect of the alkaline) it would be expected that almost 41 grams of sulfur could be removed from the fluid stream without breakthrough considering a conservative 120% sulfur loading. At 6000 ppm of H2S and 40 sccm, this would be approximately 2000 hours.
The stable iron (II) oxide and/or hydroxide in the alkaline media produced in Example 2 was used to impregnate inert supports such as alumina and attapulgite. The black iron precipitate produced in Example 2 was impregnated on alumina at a 40:60 ratio based on dry weight. Samples of the impregnated supports were then calcined at different temperatures, with the color of the final product being different depending on the calcination temperature and ranging from gray to dark pinkish brown.
Various media such as surfactants, colloids and polymers were used to help suspend the iron (II) oxides and/or hydroxides in the alkaline solution. The currently preferred media is a crosslinked acrylic acid homopolymer. Samples of the crosslinked acrylic acid homopolymer were mixed with either an alkaline solution or water while flowing N2 through it. A sample of the black precipitate containing the alkaline stabilized iron (II) oxide and/or hydroxide was added to each sample, resulting in a black gel. In both samples the black gel looking sample did not change color or settle down afterwards. This suggests that various media such as crosslinked acrylic acid homopolymer can be used to help keep the stabilized iron (II) oxides and/or hydroxides suspended in the alkaline solution.
Example 2 was repeated but using a higher concentration of KOH (45%), which corresponds to approximately 8 M, and a molar ratio of 6:1 KOH to Fe. In this case, after 10-20 minutes at 40-50° C., after cessation of magnetic agitation, the liquid phase had a green color instead of being clear as in the Example 2. The green liquid phase showed to be stable with time and had a pH of 12.6. Without being bound by theory, it is believed that by increasing the alkaline concentration more siderite was reacted as compared to Example 2 and the iron (II) hydroxide in this Example has an even smaller particle size, making this suspension stable. The green color might have been faded and less noticeable in Example 2 just because the extent of reaction was not as much as in this Example. Typical Iron hydroxide particles cannot be suspended by alkaline solutions because the particle size is too large. However, the Iron hydroxide particles produced by the new invention process can be suspended and remain stable in the suspension because their size is in the nanoscale range.
The following example was conducted to study the absorption of ethyl mercaptan by the pristine or not spent iron (II) stable solution of the current invention. Three vials, A, B, and C, each containing the same amount (approximately 50 ml) of mineral spirits as solvent were prepared. Approximately 1 ml of 1M KOH was added to vial B and approximately 1 ml of the stable iron (II) oxide and/or hydroxide prepared in accordance with the procedure set forth in Example 2 was added to vial C. Then, the same volume (approximately 0.3 ml) of pure ethyl mercaptan was added to each of vials A, B and C. After individually mixing vials B and C in order to help the absorption of mercaptans, the odor of the three samples was compared. Sample A had the characteristic smell of mercaptans. The smell of sample B was sweeter than the one from A, but still not as sweet as the one from C. The organic phase of samples A, B and C was injected in a Gas Chromatograph in order to quantify the amount of ethyl mercaptan. Samples A and B showed very similar concentration of ethyl mercaptan with values in the range of 3000 ppm. On the other hand, sample C, showed almost half of the initial concentration of ethyl mercaptan (1700 ppm), a 45% reduction in ethyl mercaptan. It is believed that the ethyl mercaptan forms a mercaptide of ferrous iron similar to the previously proposed structure for the hydro-sulfided complex with ferrous iron. This evidences that the sorbent of the current invention is superior to plain caustic in the absorption of mercaptans as well as hydrogen sulfide.
While the examples have been shown with a simulated feed, the novel absorbent can be used in connection with any liquid and/or gaseous stream that contains sulfur compounds, and in particular H2S. The sorbent is especially useful in connection with removing sulfur compounds such as H2S from various hydrocarbon streams, including but not limited to: natural gas, light hydrocarbon streams, crude oil, acid gas mixtures, carbon dioxide gas and liquid streams, anaerobic gas, landfill gas, geothermal gases and liquids, and the like. Similarly, while the above description is provided in the context of bench scale testing, one of skill in the art will appreciate how to adapt this process to a commercial scale.
The above descriptions of certain embodiments are made for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to be limiting in any manner. Other alterations and modifications of the invention will likewise become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the present disclosure, and it is intended that the scope of the invention disclosed herein be limited only by the broadest interpretation of the appended claims to which the inventors are legally entitled.
