Amine Plants

TransTex offers a full range of amine plants of the highest quality. Our amine plants go through a thorough quality control process prior to shipment to ensure quick and efficient installation, commissioning, and start-up. Rigorous engineering practices and operations feedback provides our team with information to deliver both equipment and services that meet high run-times and desired outlet gas specifications.  Delivering service above and beyond our customers’ expectations is always our goal.

WHAT ARE AMINE PLANTS?

Amine treating plants remove CO₂ (carbon dioxide) and H₂S (hydrogen sulfide) from natural gas. The process is known as gas sweetening or acid gas removal, using various alkanolamines, commonly referred to as amines.

Gases containing H₂S and CO₂ are commonly referred to as sour or acid gases. Sour gas is undesirable for several reasons:

• H₂S is an extremely poisonous and lethal gas
• Sour Gas can be very corrosive to pipeline infrastructure
• Specifically, CO₂ can hamper processing plants due to freeze ups

Due to the reasons stated above, most pipelines require natural gas to adhere to “pipeline spec” of less than 4 ppm of H₂S and no more than 2-3% of CO₂. Prior to entering cryogenic processing plants, CO₂ specifications can be as low as 50 ppm.

BENEFITS OF AMINE SWEETENING UNITS

• Treats both CO₂ and H₂S
• Chemicals are regenerated and not consumed, as with scavenger type systems
• Can be more cost efficient than scavenger system

FEATURES OF TRANSTEX TREATING AMINE UNIT

• 100% NACE compliant units available
• 100% redundancy on all critical pumps
• Pressure safety valves on all critical equipment to ensure safe operation
• High vibration shutdown switches – protects motors and pumps from damage
• NFPA 87 compliant, recommended practice for burner management system
• Programmable logic controller (PLC) options: remote monitoring capabilities and emergency shutdown with alarm notification
• Stainless steel tubes and headers for safety and longevity
• Double sump inlet filter separators to prevent contamination
• No concrete foundation required
• Modular skid mounted units for easy transport
• Built in liquid containments to reduce environmental hazards
• Equipment designed for user-friendly operations

CUSTOMIZATION SOLUTIONS TO FIT YOUR APPLICATIONS SPECIFIC NEEDS

Our natural gas treating plants are available for sale or a lease option, with the standard service package including operations and maintenance.  This includes a daily plant inspection to optimize plant run-time; monitoring the natural gas stream, flow, chemicals, filters, temperature and pressure.  Many customers prefer a lease option in order to keep their capital expenditures to a minimum.

We take pride in helping our clients find the right-sized plant for their specifications. Our gas treating plants range in size from 5 GPM up to 250 GPM. Smaller units (5, 10, 20, 25, 30, 40 & 60 GPM) are readily available. If you need a larger unit, please contact us for further information.

Our promise – if we can’t help you, we’ll refer you to someone who can.

AMINE GAS SWEETENING SOLUTIONS

Amine gas sweetening is a proven technology that removes H₂S and CO₂ from natural gas and liquid hydrocarbon streams through absorption and chemical reaction. Each of the amines offers distinct advantages to specific treating problems.

• DGA® Agent (DIGLYCOLAMINE)® A primary amine that is used in natural gas treatment applications requiring stringent outlet gas specifications, applications where oxygen (O₂) is present and low-pressure applications. DGA® Agent and DIGLYCOLAMINE® are registered trademarks of the Huntsman Corporation.
• MDEA (Methyldiethanolamine): A tertiary amine designed to have a higher affinity for H₂S than CO₂ which allows some CO₂ “slip” while retaining H₂S removal capabilities.
• DEA (Diethanolamine): A secondary amine that, like DGA® can be used in applications with stringent outlet specifications. It is often used in conjunction with MDEA to help remove some of the CO₂ that would otherwise “slip.”
• FORMULATED (SPECIALTY) SOLVENTS: A variety of blended or specialty solvents are available on the market.

We are well versed in helping customers select the right solvent for their application; please contact us with your application today.

AMINE GAS SWEETENING PROCESS

• Sour gas enters the contactor tower and rises through the descending amine.
• Sweetened gas flows from the top of the tower.
• The amine solution is now considered Rich and is carrying absorbed acid gases.
• The Lean amine and Rich amine flow through the heat exchanger, heating the Rich amine and cooling the Lean amine.
• Rich amine is then further heated in the regeneration still column by heat supplied from the reboiler. The steam rising through the still liberates H₂S and CO₂, regenerating the amine.
• The acid gases flow out of the top of the still tower and are cooled to separate them from the, now liquid, water.
• The condensed water is separated in the reflux accumulator and returned to the still while the acid gases are sent to flare or containment.
• Hot, regenerated, Lean amine is cooled in an aerial cooler and circulated to the contactor tower, completing the cycle.

READILY AVAILABLE EQUIPMENT

TransTex has a fabrication facility in Hallettsville, TX where we keep smaller units ready and available. In addition, we maintain spare parts and equipment to keep our units running at maximum efficiency.

For more information about the amine treating process, and to learn what type of equipment or amines will best suit your application, feel free to contact us.