NATURAL GAS SWEETENING: SIMULATION FOR CARBON DIOXIDE CAPTURE USING TEA AMINE-BASED ABSORPTION

This paper attempts to summarize the simulation results of a steady-state for a natural gas sweetening based on absorption process using tetra ethylamine (TEA). Carbon dioxide (CO 2) capture simulation with the use of UNISIM software package was conducted using tetra ethylamine (TEA) to obtain sweet natural gas product that meets standard market specification. The amine weight predicted at 28% loading capacity of the process begins with an appropriate level of hydration for optimum absorption. The aim is to eliminate the CO 2 gas to at least 97% level of purity and achieve possible recovery of the amine solvent at the end of the process cycle. The results show that the CO2 gas stream increases with increasing feed temperature and flow rate. The end of the simulation result yields an optimization of 0.036 mole fraction for the CO2 gas and a total recovery of the TEA amine solvent. Equipment duty such as the cooler and lean pump were also determined to evaluate the success rate of the process. However, the amount of the CO2 in the final sweet gas can be affected by the TEA solvent, but it proves better performance than other solvents. In other to ascertain this, the percentage of the methane loss to the solvent was achieved at 0.00104 moles.