of the regenerated solvent remains quite high (0.13 vs 0.05). This translates into an absorber CO₂ profile that is seriously rich-end pinched. As a general observation, solvent regeneration adequate to achieving targeted CO₂ rejection can be had with quite low steam flow rates to the reboiler. This results in CO₂ removal by the absorber being controlled by a modestly loaded lean solvent flow rate rather than very lightly loaded lean solvent at a high flow rate. When treating is to be measured in fractional CO₂ removal rather than final CO₂ concentration in the treated gas, the absorber is purposefully operated rich-end pinched by throttling back the solvent flow and using minimal regener - ating steam (Case 1 conditions). How one thinks about solvent flow and regeneration energy in limited CO₂ removal applications is inverted from how one meets stringent requirements in applications such as LNG production and ammonia synthesis gas. Low flow rates of highly loaded solvents also show opposite extremes in corrosivity from high flow rates of lightly loaded solvents. Corrosion Some of the technology breakthroughs pertain to over - coming the operating limits of conventional riser technol - ogy (such as back-mixing and overcracking). To turn these challenges into opportunities, global cooperation, as seen with the alliance comprising Saudi Aramco, ENEOS, King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals and Axens/ Technip Energies, has developed the previously men - tioned proprietary High-Severity Fluid Catalytic Cracking (HS-FCC) process that has been described extensively in the trade press, including PTQ and Digital Refining. 6 Conclusion ProTreat’s acid gas corrosion model accounts for the effect of turbulence level (flow regime), temperature, acid gas loading, amine strength, surface roughness, and metallurgy on the expected corrosion rate. Measured corrosion rate With all the challenges, opportunities, and execution strate - gies discussed, there is large-scale adoption of automation technology, including AI,nmachine learning, and cloud- based services. Automation increases human-machine shrinking, as an important new component in the refinery configuration of the future. For this reason, conventional residue cat cracking technol - ogy has been widely employed in today’s refining scheme at its full technology limit (i.e. high severity conditions to maxi - mise the conversion of residue into propylene and aromatics). Processing heavy feedstocks at such a condition requires specific design know-how and optimisations as well as some specific technology features to manage secondary cracking through different recycling options. However, a technology breakthrough is necessary to transform the refinery’s original gasoline producer(s) into a petrochemical conversion unit.
data taken under commercial conditions have been corre- lated against turbulence parameters and corrosion kinet - ics, as well as piping metallurgy. Heavily-loaded, hot amine solvents turn out to be very corrosive, as are hot solvents that are lightly loaded, especially without enough sulphur content to mitigate against corrosion via passivation. References 1 Upgrading plant list. Available at: http://task37.ieabioenergy.com/ plant-list.html . Accessed on 16 June 2022. However, we are under no illusion that all important or yet-to-be-seen factors and trends in the downstream industry have been covered. Redistribution of capital in the downstream industry could inevitably need to be shared with a wider array of energy sources, including LNG, green hydrogen, and biochemicals. Regardless, all indications are that the fossil fuel-based refining and petrochemical could continue to dominate the energy markets well beyond 2050. 2 Niesner J, Jecha D, Stehlik P, 2013, Biogas upgrading techniques: state of art review in European region, Chemical Engineering Transac- tions , 35, 517-522 DOI:10.3303/CET1335086 Diego Di Domenico Pinto is Managing Director of Hovyu B.V., Schiedam, The Netherlands. He has more than 15 years’ experience in gas treating, with focus on CO₂ removal. He is actively involved in the development and implementation of CO₂ removal processes, including post-combustion capture and biogas upgrading. 3 C Dorado, C Mullen, A Boateng, H-ZSM5 catalyzed co-pyrolysis of biomass and plastics, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering , vol.2, no.2, 301-11, 3 Feb 2014. Ralph H. Weiland is OGT’s Chairman, Buda, Texas, USA. He began working in the area of gas treating in graduate school and has been active in basic and applied research in this field ever since. He holds BASc, MAsC, and PhD degrees in chemical engineering from the Uni - versity of Toronto and was a postdoctoral fellow in applied mathemat - ics at the University of Western Australia. References 1 J A Melero, J Iglesius, A Garcia, Biomass as renewable feedstock in starndard refinery units. Feasibility, opportunities and challenges, Energy & Environmental Science , no. 6, 2012. 2 R Lodeng, H Bergen, Co-hydroprocessing of Bio-oils to Middle Distillates, Trondheim Norway, 2021. interaction at facilities with high sustainability rankings, leading to better returns. Simultaneously, data generation is undeniably increasing at an unmanageable rate now that efforts are being made to connect every equipment asset to the cloud (compressors, pumps). 4 A Alvarez-Majmutov, S Badoga, J Chen, J Monnier, Y Zhang, Co-Processing of Deoxygenated Pyrolysis Bio-Oil with Vacuum Gas Oil through Hydrocracking, Energy & Fuels , vol.35, no.12, 9983-9993, 2021. 5 R D Allen, J I Martin, Chemical Recycling of PET, American Chemical Society, 2021. 6 HS-FCC is a mark of Axens.
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