Training Course Agendas

All of our training courses are provided at no charge.

These course agendas are a representation of the course material presented for the specific classes. All material is subject to change depending on the specific needs of the clients at each course.

Some courses with material covering three days may be shortened to one or two days. Please contact Bryan Research & Engineering for assistance in determining what material can be presented in the desired time and for additional information on any training session.

BRE 231: Sour Gas Processing

Objectives:

The Sour Gas Processing course is a detailed discussion of amine units, physical absorption units, glycol dehydration units, and sulfur recovery units. The operating principles of these units are presented and modeled in ProMax®, as well as exploring the rationale for common variations seen in these process units.

In this three (3) day course ProMax users are given opportunities to explore and gain understanding of amine, physical solvent, glycol dehydration, and sulfur recovery systems through extensive, hands-on use of the Scenario Tool® and ProMax models. The course demonstrates how to use these tools for plant design and process optimization.

Attendees will learn:

  • Process applications used in sour gas processing
  • Specific applications of ProMax and its features with regards to sour gas processing
  • Capabilities and features of ProMax simulation software
  • Plant modeling techniques and methods

Prerequisites:

  • BRE 101 or 111, or equivalent experience
  • Understanding of ProMax specifiers, solvers, and Scenario Tool

Methods:

  • Instructor-led demonstrations
  • Hands-on simulation
  • Question-Answer
  • Open floor discussion

Agenda

To complete all the exercises in this course takes a minimum of 3 days.

Installation of ProMax

The first step in all courses is to verify that ProMax is properly installed on each attendee’s computer.

Section 1: Sour Gas Removal ("Sweetening")

Covers sweetening processes for gases and liquids, chemical and physical solvents, and sour water stripping.

Amine systems
  • Exercise 1: Amine Sweetening Review – A basic MEA gas sweetening unit. Teaches recommended methods for simulating chemical solvent processes. Reviews the various simulation tools used throughout the course (esp. the Scenario Tool).
  • Exercise 2: Amine Sweetening Solvent Comparison – A comparison between MEA, DEA and MDEA for sweetening a gas that contains H2S and CO2.
  • Exercise 3: Amine Sweetening Solvent Blends – A comparison between blends of generic MDEA and a blend of MDEA with DEA, piperazine, or phosphoric acid.
  • Exercise 4: Rich and Lean Approach – A demonstration of the effects of high lean and rich approaches.
  • Exercise 5: Amine Sweetening Process Conditions – A study of the effect of various process parameters (e.g. regenerator pressure) on the performance of an MDEA sweetening unit.
  • Exercise 6: Amine Sweetening Process Flow – A study of the effect of various flow modifications (e.g. flash drum, water wash) on the performance of a DGA sweetening unit.
  • Exercise 7: Absorber Packing Comparison – A comparison of different packings and their effect on flooding, performance, and pressure drop.
Physical solvent systems
  • Exercise 8: Physical Solvent Comparison – A comparison between DEPG, NMP, PC, methanol, and MDEA for sweetening a gas that contains H2S, CO2, mercaptans, and COS.
  • Exercise 9: Physical Solvent Regeneration – A study of the common regeneration methods used for physical solvents, including simple flashing, injecting stripping gas, and applying heat.
  • Exercise 10: Hydrocarbon Liquid Sweetening – A basic DGA liquid sweetening unit. Demonstrates how to modify the number of stages in a column using stage efficiencies.
Sour water systems
  • Exercise 11: Sour Water Stripping – Techniques for removing H2S and NH3 from water, all while maintaining a low water content in the acid gas stream produced. Demonstrates the effect of adding acid or base to the feed, as well as how to overcome column convergence issues.
Section 2: Dehydration

Discussion of hydrate formation and inhibition and gas dehydration using glycols and methanol.

  • Exercise 12: Glycol Dehydration – A study of the impact and relevance of nearly every adjustable parameter in a glycol dehydration unit.
  • Exercise 13: Dehydration Process Comparison – A comparison between different solvent-based dehydration processes (glycol variations + a methanol-based process).
Section 3: Acid Gas Disposal

Examines conversion of H2S to elemental sulfur (“sulfur recovery”) for gases with both high and low concentrations of H2S, as well as re-injection of H2S and CO2 underground (“acid gas injection”).

SRU systems
  • Exercise 14: Sulfur Recovery—Straight-Through – Optimizing sulfur recovery for a standard Claus unit, including determining the proper number of Claus beds.
  • Exercise 15: Tail Gas Handling – Increasing sulfur recovery by further processing the tail gas from the Claus unit. Includes cold bed adsorption, sulfur oxidation, sulfur recycle, and incineration.
Acid gas injection
  • Exercise 16: Acid Gas Injection – Compressing a mixture of H2S, CO2, and water to high pressure and injecting it underground to a reservoir, all while avoiding hydrate formation.
Notes about the agenda:

Our agenda is provided to give the approximate material to be covered in the course, in the approximate order it will be covered. All courses we provide will be tailored to the needs of the host company providing the training accommodations, as well as the needs of the course attendees. Some courses may cover additional topics, while some may cover less than indicated in the agenda.

Some courses with material that requires three days to present may be shortened to one or two days. These shortened courses will typically cover both process simulation and process optimization topics, but will exclude several exercises. Please contact our training team or ask the consulting engineer for your region for specific information about any course.