Heat-stable salts in an MDEA scrubber solution

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) are disruptive byproducts of natural gas that must be eliminated during conveyance. This is accomplished with the aid of gas scrubbing, during which the gas flow is cleaned with absorbers such as alkanolamines or akylalkanolamines (e.g., methyldiethanolamine, MDEA). Reliable analysis is imperative, given that heat-stable salts often accumulate in the absorber and thus inhibit the absorption capacity for acid gases.

The determination of heat-stable salts (SCN^–, S₂O₃^2–, SO₃^2–, SO₄^2–, etc.) in MDEA solutions takes place on the Metrosep A Supp 5 - 250/4.0 column with conductivity detection following sequential suppression.

Key words: amine gas treating, scrubber

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