Refinery Gas Upgrading with Staged Compression and Sorption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Refinery gases contain valuable hydrocarbons like ethane and propane, but are often discarded due to the presence of contaminants such as molecular nitrogen, nitrogen oxides, and carbonyl sulfide, making recovery economically prohibitive.
Innovation Solution
A process involving compression, pre-treatment, and combination with a process gas in a steam cracker facility to remove contaminants, followed by sorption and regeneration to produce an upgraded combined gas lean in impurities, allowing recovery of hydrocarbons like ethylene and propylene.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If refinery gas is sent to flare or combuster for disposal, then contaminants are removed, but valuable hydrocarbons are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The process segments the treatment of refinery gas into distinct stages: compression, pre-treatment to remove specific impurities (CO2, H2S, water), and selective hydrocarbon recovery. This segmentation allows each stage to target specific components, enabling hydrocarbon recovery while managing contaminants systematically rather than disposing of the entire gas stream.
Solution Approach 2:
The process extracts valuable hydrocarbons (ethylene, propylene, butadiene) from the refinery gas stream through selective separation techniques. By taking out only the desired hydrocarbon components and leaving contaminants behind for separate handling, the process recovers economic value while isolating harmful substances for appropriate disposal or treatment.
2Ease of manufacture
If complete contaminant removal is implemented to recover hydrocarbons, then hydrocarbon recovery becomes economically viable, but process complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The process applies preliminary compression and pre-treatment steps before main hydrocarbon recovery. By compressing the gas first and removing easily removable impurities (CO2, H2S, water) in advance, the subsequent hydrocarbon separation operates on a pre-conditioned stream, simplifying the main recovery process and making the overall operation economically feasible.
Solution Approach 2:
The process changes physical parameters systematically: compression increases pressure to facilitate subsequent separation; pre-treatment removes impurities that would interfere with hydrocarbon recovery; each stage optimizes parameters (pressure, temperature, composition) to enable the next stage, creating a cascade of parameter changes that progressively simplify the recovery operation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The process effectively removes contaminants, enabling the recovery and utilization of valuable hydrocarbons from refinery gases, enhancing economic viability.
Implementation Method 1
contacting the refinery gas with a sorbent under conditions sufficient to cause at least a portion of the carbonyl sulfide to sorb onto the sorbent
Implementation Method 2
introducing at least a portion of the desorb effluent into a pyrolysis zone of a steam cracker
Implementation Method 3
The process gas can be compressed in a plurality of compressor stages
Data Source
AI summary
Processes are provided for removing contaminants from a refinery gas. Such process can include recovering a process gas comprising ethylene and propylene from a steam cracker effluent recovered from a stream cracker in a steam cracker facility. A refinery gas can be recovered from a refinery facility. The process gas can be compressed in a plurality of compressor stages. A pressure of the refinery gas can be determined. A compressor stage in the plurality of compressor stages can be selected for introducing the refinery gas using the determined pressure of the refinery gas. The refinery gas can be introduced into the selected compressor stage to produce a combined gas that can include the process gas and the refinery gas. At least a portion of one or more impurities can be removed from the combined gas in the steam cracker facility to produce an upgraded combined gas.