273676 Assessing Anhydrous Tertiary Alkanolamines for Gas Purifications

Tuesday, October 30, 2012: 1:45 PM
306 (Convention Center )
David J. Heldebrant1, Paul M. Mathias2, Kash Afshar2, Satish Reddy2, Arnold R. Smith3, Rubin J. McDougal4, Louis V. Jasperson4, Phillip K. Koech5, Mark Bearden6 and Charles J. Freeman5, (1)PNNL, Richland, WA, (2)Fluor Corporation, Aliso Viejo, CA, (3)Fluor Corporation, Aliso Viejo, WA, (4)Wiltec Research Company, Provo, UT, (5)Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, (6)Energy & Environmental, Pacific Northwest National Lab, Richalnd, WA

Assessing Anhydrous Tertiary Alkanolamines for Gas Purifications

 

Paul M. Mathias, Kash Afshar, Satish Reddy, Arnold R. Smith, Rubin J. McDougal
Louis V. Jasperson, Phillip K. Koech, Mark D. Bearden, Charles J. Freeman, David J. Heldebrant

Anhydrous tertiary alkanolamines chemically react with CO2 and H2S, with greater selectivity for the latter. This is in direct contrast to aqueous amine-based solvent systems with higher selectivity for CO2 due to stronger chemical fixation than for H2S. Anhydrous tertiary alkanolamines exhibit pressure-induced chemical fixation of CO2 to form zwitterionic ammonium alkylcarbonate ionic liquids, while the same tertiary alkanolamines react with H2S at atmospheric pressures to form hydrosulfide ionic liquids. This difference in capture pressure implies that anhydrous alkanolamines could be chemically selective for H2S over CO2 under specific conditions.  We present here the first vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) data of anhydrous ethyldiethanolamine (EDEA) with CH4, C3H8, H2S and CO2 at 10 and 50 °C measured by the PTx and PTxy methods. The data are modeled in Aspen Plus® using an electrolyte NRTL model. Data trends and phenomena are discussed for each gas.  We also compare anhydrous EDEA’s simulated performance for CO2 and H2S separations to other solvents such as Fluor Solvent, Econosolv, and aqueous methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) for representative gas-processing applications.


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