Adsorbents for the Gas Processing Industry
UOP molecular sieves have been used in natural gas processing since
the early 1960s. The most widely used application is natural gas drying
to prevent water freeze up in cryogenic process trains. Around the
globe, more than 1,000 UOP molecular sieve dryers are currently in
use, drying more than 15 billion SCFD of natural gas feed to liquid
natural gas (LNG), liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and cryogenic natural
gas liquid (NGL) plants.
Natural Gas Drying Products
UOP offers the widest line of molecular sieve adsorbents for natural gas drying
worldwide:
- 4A-DG MOLSIV molecular sieve in 1/16
inch pellets, 1/8 inch pellets and 1/8 inch TRISIV form are used
in more than 60% of natural gas dryers worldwide.
- UI-94 MOLSIV molecular sieve is specially formulated to resist break-up
due to regeneration reflux or excessive hydrocarbon liquid carryover. It has
one-third the pressure drop increase of standard 4A products and is currently
installed in units which had severe break-up problems in the Far East, Middle
East and North America.
- UOP’s HgSIV molecular sieve products are used to dry and remove
mercury to less than 0.01 micrograms per normal cubic meter from more than 25
natural gas dryers and six natural gas liquid dryers. The HgSIV molecular sieves
are used as a layer in a standard UOP sized dryer bed, and the mercury is completely
removed from the HgSIV molecular sieves at standard regeneration temperatures.
- COSMIN 105A molecular sieve (available in 1/16 inch and 1/8 inch pellets)
was developed to minimize COS formation and H2S-mercaptan peaks in the regeneration
gas when drying natural gas containing H2S. H2S conversion to COS on COSMIN 105A
molecular sieve is 1.0 % or less. COSMIN 105A molecular sieve is a very rugged
3A molecular sieve formulated for natural gas applications. It has provided more
than four years of performance life in this service.
- MOLSIV acid-resistant molecular sieves are used to dry high acid gas
content (CO2 and H2S) natural gas – often referred to as sour gas - and natural gas condensate streams. UOP’s
acid resistant molecular sieves typically provide two years of performance life
in sour gas service, whereas conventional 4A and 3A molecular sieves last
three to four months.
- UOP’s TRISIV molecular sieves are used in high space velocity dryers
to reduce pressure drop. The TRISIV molecular sieve shape typically reduces pressure
drop by 25-33 % in high space velocity dryers. The lower pressure drop reduces
compression costs, improves NGL yields by as much as 0.1 %, and provides significant
dryer vessel cost reduction by reducing the size of new units.
Natural Gas and NGL Treating
More than 100 units worldwide rely upon UOP RK-38 and 4A-LNG molecular sieves
to remove CO2, H2S and low molecular weight mercaptans from natural gas.
More than 50 LNG peak shavers in North America use UOP’s 4A-LNG and
LNG-III
molecular sieves to remove water and CO2 from natural gas.
More than 50 natural gas liquid treaters use UOP’s RK-29 molecular sieves
to remove H2S and low molecular weight mercaptans from propane, RK-29-II adsorbent
to remove COS from propane, and 13X molecular sieves to remove heavy molecular
weight mercaptans from butane.
For more information on our products for natural gas, LNG, or LPG, call your
local UOP sales office or contact us directly using our information request form.
For more information on
UOP’s related technologies for gas processing, click on the following
links:
Gas Processing
Hydrogen Delivery Process
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