In Gas Treating Plants worldwide the most common practice for the measurement of foaminess of alkanolamide solvents used in the sweetening of natural gas is the sparge method. This research investigated the use of an alternative method using optical measurement technology to repeatedly measure the lifetime of a single bubble. A custom built instrument called the "Interfacial Stability Assessor" (ISA) was used in determining which selected components in the acid gas removal unit (AGRU) had an effect on the foaming ability of the treating amine solvent di-isipropanolamine (DIPA). A mass balance of the AGRU was also performed to determine the extent of hydrocarbon absorption in the solvent and foam fractionation carried out on the amine solvent to determine other possible foaming contaminants. All experiments were performed onsite at the North West Shelf Gas Treating Plant in Karratha, Australia. Overall, this research indicates that ISA is extremely sensitive to changes in surface tension and viscosity. All the organic acids tested did not increase the foamability of DIPA, however n-hexane and 'residue' from degradation products did increase the foamability of DIPA at their tested concentration ranges. / Thesis (MApSc(ChemicalTechnology))--University of South Australia, 2006
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/267277 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | de Glanville, Richard. |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | copyright under review |
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