Manage activated carbon effects on MDEA solution foaming

D. Engel, S. Williams and A. Heinen, Nexo Solutions, The Woodlands, Texas In the oil and gas industry, activated carbon (AC) is used in many applications, both as an adsorbent and as a support media for chemical reagents. One of the most common uses is in amine units. The occurrence of foaming episodes in amine units is perhaps the single most common problem leading to operational losses. The AC has the function of removing soluble contaminants from the amine solvent, thereby reducing foaming tendency. However, no systematic study exists of the relative effect of AC adsorption with respect to foaming reduction in amine solutions. The work in this article focuses on the contact times and am