Gas Processors Association Europe

Peter Hawes, Zeochem, Switzerland

Zeochem have done a great deal of work pioneering the use of molecular sieves to adsorb mercaptans. The first for a grassroots plant was the South Pars 1 project in Iran, over 10 years ago. The know-how gained from this project made Zeochem an important member of the (BASF-Lurgi) OmniSulf® process.  South Pars 1 now produces gas with the lowest sulphur specification for the IGAT pipeline.
The paper presents the problems encountered, subsequent investigations and solutions from the project resulting in significant improvements for future designs, as is in the Iran LNG and South Pars 12 projects. Difficult separations and tighter specifications are now possible. The removal of COS will also be covered, together with the recent improvements achieved by Zeochem.