Case study for CO2 removal using Fluor Solvent for offshore natural gas treatment

The need to remove CO2 from natural gas has become more important as producers are required to develop offshore reserves with high CO2 content. Conventional amine treating processes require extensive heating and cooling and constant monitoring to maintain plant performance. Amine systems are also prone to solvent degradation and portions of the plant require construction from stainless steel material to prevent corrosion. An ideal offshore treating process should have a small footprint, be easy to operate and maintain and be able to handle CO2 feed content fluctuations. This paper introduces the Fluor Solvent® propylene carbonate-based process technology. The Fluor Solvent system absorbs CO2 from a feed gas using propylene carbonate and releases CO2 by pressure reduction of the rich solvent without the need for heat-based regeneration. The system is particularly suitable for offshore applications due to its simplicity and flexibility. Fluor Solvent is non-toxic, relatively low cost and readily available from several solvent manufacturers. Since Fluor Solvent is anhydrous, both the treated gas and CO2 product streams are suitable for pipeline distribution. In addition, the entire plant can be constructed from carbon steel. This case study compares the use of Fluor Solvent to a traditional activated methyldiethanolamine (MDEA)-based system for removing CO2 from an offshore gas. The comparison includes rough order of magnitude (ROM) delta capital and operating costs for feed gases with varying CO2 concentrations.