Q A & Rich-Amine Letdown in
Refineries, Gas Processing Plants
n DRAG® valves eliminate catastrophic failures at
Williams Field Service in rich-amine letdown valves.
Q. What is amine, and how is it used?
A. Amine, often called MEA or DEA, is
a chemical liquid used to remove
contaminants such as hydrogen sulfide
(H2S) and carbon dioxide (CO2) from raw
gas. The amine liquid is pumped into
the top of a column. The raw gas enters
through the bottom of the column and, as
it rises, the raw gas passes through the
amine liquid. In this process, the H2S and
CO2 are absorbed in to the amine liquid
and are removed from the gas.
This process is similar to carbon dioxide
being absorbed into a carbonated
beverage. The gas leaving from the
column is referred to as “clean” and is
sent for distribution or use in the refinery.
The amine at the bottom of the column
is referred to as rich amine. This level
control valve, referred to as the rich amine
letdown valve, serves two purposes. In
addition to level control, the valve is
also used to flash off the contaminant
gases from the rich amine liquid. The
contaminant gases are then collected and
sent for further processing. The amine,
now called lean amine, is returned to a
storage tank where it is then pumped back
into the column for reuse.
Q. How are the contaminant gases flashed
off from the rich amine?
A. The column is maintained under pressure
to improve the efficiency of the absorption
process. At this pressure and saturation
point, the rich amine is a multi-constituent
fluid with a vapor pressure near the
pressure in the column. As the fluid
passes through the rich amine letdown
valve, the pressure drops across the valve,
causing the gases to be released from the
amine.
Q. Why is the rich amine letdown process a
severe service application?
A. Typically, the complexity of the multi-
constituent fluid with absorbed gases is
not understood by the customer or valve
supplier. They do not recognize the high
degree of kinetic energy produced by the
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flash off of the gases. In addition, many
times a lower vapor pressure is assumed
which causes the valve to be undersized.
For example, a simple Fisher ported valve
or CAV III is used. Combining the effect
of high kinetic energy with an undersized
valve results in high mechanical vibration
that produces catastrophic failure. Often
the catastrophic failure occurs at the plug-
stem connection.
Q. Why did Williams Field Service switch
from Fisher valves to DRAG® valves?
A. Through experience, the catastrophic
failure of their Fisher rich amine letdown
valves could be predicted; in other words,
they knew the Fisher valves would only
work for a certain number of weeks before
they failed. While Fisher had a CAV IV
multi-stage design, the CAV IV design
was limited in capacity and number of
pressure reducing stages, and would
require a much larger valve size. In
comparison, the DRAG® valves offered
the number of pressure-reducing stages
required to limit the kinetic energy
produced while also packaging these
stages in a smaller valve size.
Q. What is the value brought to Williams
Field Service by the DRAG® valves?
A. The real value is reliability. The fact that
the DRAG® valves do not fail means that
Williams Field Service can continue to
process the gas without shutting down
the train. Williams Field Service makes its
profit from keeping the gas processing
trains up and running.
Q. Can all gas processing plants and
refineries realize this value from a DRAG®
rich amine letdown valve?
A. Most gas processing plants will have five
to ten of these rich amine letdown valves
which are used to process all of the
gas. By replacing all of these valves with
DRAG® valves, the gas processing plant or
refinery can have the guaranteed reliability
needed to keep the trains up and running
and producing profit.