Abu Dhabi to Host Event on New Technolgy Developments for Sour Gas Processing
The exponentially rising demand for uninterrupted supplies of gas for industries, power generation and other purposes, are a few of the factors that are responsible for the growth of the global sour gas market. Removal of acidic gases from sour gas is a costly operation, and the size and cost of the separation depend upon the amount of gas that needs to be conditioned to sales gas.
Technological advancements and development of efficient and cost effective processes for the separation of acids from gas have opened new avenues for the market players to invest and SOGAT 2019 will be displaying some of the latest for the first time in the Middle East.
SOGAT 2019 will be taking place in Abu Dhabi on May 1 and 2, at a time when within ADNOC’s integrated gas strategy,they are to develop the Ghasha ultra-sour gas concession, which is expected to produce over 1.5bn cubic feet of gas per day, when it comes on stream as well as increase production from the Shah sour gas field to 1.5bn cubic feet per day and move forward to develop the sour gas fields at Bab and Bu Hasa.
Thus the combination of rising demand for gas, more advanced technology coming on stream and their industry leading experience in developing sour gas fields, makes it possible for ADNOC to commercially unlock value from these vast sour gas resources for the first time and presentations in the SOGAT conference will reflect some of these new technology possibilities. An example of how subsurface modeling software resulting in an optimal field development plan helps to reduce overall cost, to meet project schedules and significantly reduce safety exposure hours will be featured together with an example of a H2S scavenger with various advantages, such as reduced total cost of operations as well as alleviation of downstream corrosion concerns will be debated. Also an example of a technology that allows safe working behind leaking valves will be raised and no matter how good the design is, there are always leak paths, which in the context of sour fields with high H2s content raises grave HSE concerns given the fatality associated with H2S ingestion. In this regard it is fortuitous that one of the world’s premier valve manufactures, OHL Gutermuth will be demonstrating their latest expertise having recently completed projects that include 220 tons of valves for desulphurization plants in the Middle East. CSI Ametek will similarly be on hand, to display their field proven ICOn sulfur degassing technology brings new capabilities to refineries and gas plants. The flexible configuration allows this technology to be installed immediately after the sulphur unit condensers which reduces potential personnel exposure to H2S in sulphur storage and handling .
Further presentations include how several recently new patented technologies can improve emission aspects whilst reducing operating plant costs at the same time, as well as a new process to reduce amine losses and improve refinery operability and costs.
Looking to the future for H2S decomposition to produce H2 will be of great interest in the conference programme. The many regional sour field plans will result in higher volume of available H2S and gas processing plants traditionally feature the Claus process with tail gas treatment technology for sulphur recovery, which is an energy intensive process. Large scale hydrogen production from H2S is not yet at full scale operation, due to technical and economic feasibility limitations. Therefore a debate on current status of different technologies for H2 production from H2S decomposition will be a pointer for the future, of an promising alternative to traditional routes, as well as developing value added products in the process.
