Natural Gas Treating

Integrated solutions for your entire gas processing plant

Reliable Acid Gas Removal Technology Solutions

Remove CO₂, H₂S and other sulfur components from your feed gas stream with the UOP Amine Guard™ FS process technology. It combines Dow^® high performance UCARSOL™ family of solvents with UOP’s reliable Amine Guard system process technology. The process can be tailored for either bulk, selective or trace acid gas removal for CO₂ and H₂S. It is typically used to treat natural gas streams for pipeline, NGL or LNG applications or synthesis gas streams in ammonia plants.

The Amine Guard FS Process was introduced over 20 years ago and today more than 400 units have been put into commercial service.

Advanced Adsorbents

UOP MOLSIV™ adsorbents are used in both gas and liquid service.  Union Carbide scientists invented molecular sieves over 60 years ago and today UOP scientists continue in their footsteps, creating new and better sieves for a wide variety of gas processing applications.  UOP remains the leading supplier of dehydration adsorbents upstream of liquefaction.

Despite removal of acid gas to low level upstream of NGL and LNG liquefaction, some CO2 and H2S can end up in the fractionated ethane, propane and butane streams.  UOP GB-417 and GB-420 adsorbents are used to remove small concentrations of acidic compounds from liquefied gases to meet copper strip quality tests.

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The market leader in molecular sieve technology

The natural gas processing industry uses UOP’s MOLSIV™ adsorbents for natural gas dehydration, mercury removal, CO2 removal, natural gas/LPG desulfurization and ammonia synthesis gas purification. With over 2500 operating units worldwide, UOP is the commercial expert in molecular sieves for gas and liquid processing.

Molecular sieve adsorbents composed of aluminosilicate crystalline polymers (zeolites), efficiently remove low concentrations of contaminants down to trace concentrations. UOP manufactures molecular sieve products as beads, granules and extrudates, including standard pellets and UOP TRISIV™ pellets. The molecular sieve type, size and particle shape selected for a particular customer are determined by the application. UOP’s extensive database allows us to select the optimum products on a case-by-case basis.

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Unconventional Gas Treating with proven modular equipment

Smaller, lighter, modular design can lower your capital and energy costs.

With UOP Separex™ Membrane Systems, you’re up and running with faster delivery and lower installation costs. Our customers also see shorter, easier start-ups and shutdowns and most report downtime at less than 0.5 percent per year. Separex Membrane Systems are ideal for remote locations where transportation logistics are challenging and they require minimal operator intervention.

Because most shale gases are lean in heavy hydrocarbons compared to oil-associated gas streams, the feed gas pretreatment requirement for a Separex membrane system is minimal and contamination issues are greatly reduced.  Operators have achieved very long membrane life in shale gas applications in the Antrim reservoir in Michigan, USA.

With the Twister Supersonic Gas Separation technology, gas liquids recovery can be improved as much as 20% over conventional gas chilling applications. For situations where staged production implementation or incremental liquids recovery is economically attractive, the Twister solution is an excellent strategy to improve overall project profitability.

Let UOP show you how modular membrane systems and Twister Supersonic Gas Separation units can help you achieve your shale gas processing needs with greater profitability compared to amines and conventional gas liquids recovery equipment.

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Regenerable and non-regenerable options for efficient mercury removal

UOP offers regenerable molecular sieve adsorbents and non-regenerable metal oxide
adsorbents to remove mercury from natural gas, LPG and other light hydrocarbon streams.

Our HgSIV™ adsorbents are silver loaded molecular sieves specifically formulated to remove mercury. The adsorbent can be loaded into an existing molecular sieve dehydration unit to simultaneously remove mercury, water and other impurities. HgSIV adsorbents are regenerated with a clean gas stream.
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UOP GB adsorbents can be used for final removal of mercury from the regeneration gas of a dehydrator using HgSIV.  This has the advantage of using a smaller vessel while treating a more concentrated mercury stream. 
View Flow Scheme

Alternately, UOP GB adsorbents can be located upstream of all other gas treating processes to permanently remove mercury and prevent contamination of downstream process piping and equipment.
View Flow Scheme

UOP is your single-source supplier for guaranteed mercury removal.  We offer a product sale into your dehydration system or full equipment packages for use with our non-regenerated adsorbents.

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The most efficient NGL recovery technology in the world

If you’re in need of an optimized, integrated plant design, UOP’s alliance with Ortloff offers a superior combination of expertise and experience. Ortloff Engineers, Ltd. is a leading engineering and consulting company with a portfolio of proprietary process technologies, know-how, and patents in the natural gas liquids (NGL and LPG) recovery and compact gas plant industry. Ortloff’s technologies are designed to increase yields of high value components from the natural gas stream while reducing power requirements. Ortloff’s proprietary technologies have been utilized world-wide. When combined with UOP’s offerings, it’s an unbeatable combination.

Recover Propane & Heavier Hydrocarbons

Ortloff’s Single Column Overhead Recycle (SCORE) process is state-of-the-art gas processing technology suited to the recovery of propane and heavier hydrocarbons from a natural gas stream. The SCORE process is one of many Ortloff technologies capable of extremely high propane recovery with high efficiency (reduced power).

Ethane or Propane Recovery

Ortloff’s Recycle Split Vapor (RSV) process is an enhancement of Ortloff’s original Gas Subcooled Process (GSP) technology. The RSV technology is extremely flexible, and can operate as either an ethane recovery or a propane recovery mode. This flexibility allows an operator to maximize plant profits based on ethane economics. In addition, an RSV plant can operate at flow rates significantly different than design.

Sulfur Recovery

Ortloff sulfur recovery systems operate for longer periods of time between shutdowns, with reduced maintenance cost, and more operating ease and flexibility. Ortloff offers Claus sulfur recovery processes based on the Amoco process for both natural gas and refinery applications. Amoco’s patented and proprietary ammonia destruction technology is combined with the know-how Ortloff has developed from the design and operation of these plants. Amoco’s technology has been licensed for use in more than 400 plants worldwide. This best-in-class technology can achieve overall sulfur recovery in excess of 99.9 percent.

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Advanced gas processing with proven supersonic separation equipment

The new standard for combined water and hydrocarbon removal from natural gas is now available as a ready to install system through an alliance between UOP and Twister.

The supersonic separator technology, introduced and patented by Twister B.V., is a robust solution for commercial gas processing applications. The equipment has been proven viable for onshore and offshore application by major oil and gas producers worldwide.  Together, UOP and Twister are able to offer extensive experience in gas separation fundamentals, specialty equipment design and manufacturing, as well as valuable experience in integrating gas purification solutions to best address the unique needs of your application and business. 

Trouble Free Dewpointing of Natural Gas Streams

The Twister technology uses pressure drop to cool a stream to a condition where water and heavier hydrocarbons condense and are easily separated.  The supersonic gas flow design results in a more efficient separation and higher liquids recovery for the same pressure drop compared to conventional Joule-Thompson gas cooling systems. 

Additionally, the efficient separation offered by the equipment eliminates the need for chemical injection to prevent hydrate formation, a limitation of conventional gas dewpointing technology.  There are no moving parts and reliability is extremely high.  The compact design and modular approach provides efficient use of space in offshore applications or expansions in existing facilities. 

The technology is economically attractive due to ability to achieve higher liquids recovery and reduce operating costs relative to other dewpointing systems. 

Twister Supersonic gas separation is especially beneficial in the following applications:

• Dewpointing where additional liquids recovery is valued
• Dehydration of sour gas streams
• Offshore applications, especially FPSO and FLNG
• Under Ground Gas Storage (UGS) where chemical free and fast response solutions are needed
• Remote locations where chemical handling, operating personnel, and maintenance are to be minimized.

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