In this work, the potential of a new low-temperature distillation process for natural-gas sweetening has been investigated. The proposed technology consists of a dual pressure-distillation scheme designed to avoid the formation of a solid phase in all parts of the process while remaining able to fulfill the required natural-gas-purity specifications. The new process offers the competitive advantages of low-temperature technologies while avoiding carbon dioxide (CO2) solidification and solvent addition.
Introduction
The industry must find technologies that allow the profitable exploitation of low-quality and high-CO2-content gas reserves in order to meet increasing demand while still decreasing production costs. Low-temperature processes are preferred to traditional chemical or physical absorption for gas purification when the CO2 concentration in natural-gas streams is high.
