(512g) Relevance of Thermophysical Property Data in Rate-Based Gas Treating Simulations

The incorporation of high quality vapor-liquid equilibrium data (VLE) for acid gases in aqueous amine-based solvents at low loadings has been used to improve rate-based simulations for gas treating applications. With increased attention to lower acid gas emissions, customers require more accurate predictions of acid gas concentrations throughout the system in order to improve process operation, design, and integration. More accurate VLE data in the low lean region (0.01 to 0.001 mol acid gas per mol amine) will enable improved simulation-based optimization for factors such as circulation rate and reboiler duty. Existing literature data in the low lean region for acid gas solubility in amine-based solvents have shown a large amount of scatter. In this paper, a detailed analysis of the current state of existing low lean experimental data is presented; gaps and opportunities are identified to improve rate-based simulation. Additionally, we will also discuss how the experimental data is utilized in the development of a rate-based simulation and the impact of its variability in gas treating applications.