UOP Molsiv UI 94 Adsorbent Brochure
UOP Molsiv UI 94 Adsorbent Brochure
UOP Molsiv UI 94 Adsorbent Brochure
Extend adsorbent bed service life and reduce natural gas dehydration operational costs
Designed to overcome todays operational challenges, UOPs innovative molecular sieve adsorbent offers longer adsorbent life and higher profitability for your natural gas processing needs.
UOP pioneered the adsorbents industry with the invention of the first synthetic zeolites for use as molecular sieves in 1949. Since then, UOP has been committed to innovation with continued research and development in the adsorbents industry. With long-standing experience over a breadth of feedstock types, unit configurations and operating philosophies, UOPs technologies are designed to help facilities operate more efficiently with lower costs.
Liquid carryover
Most natural gas dehydration systems are equipped with liquid/entrained water separators upstream of the molecular sieve beds. Liquid carryover to adsorbent beds, however, continues to be a common occurrence. Liquid water, glycols or other solvents affect the physical structure of the adsorbent and cause agglomeration. This results in increased pressure drop across the bed, reduced capacity and channeling leading to ineffective adsorption and regeneration.
condense on the top and side walls of the vessel. This phenomenon is commonly termed adsorption reflux. This phenomenon ceases once the adsorber achieves uniform regeneration temperature throughout the bed. However, the liquid water formed on the vessel wall during initial regeneration can cause agglomeration of the adsorbent material. This repeats with each successive regeneration operation and finally results in solid adsorbent material on the bed sides.
Thermocouple
Reflux
Counter current thermal regeneration is the most effective method for desorption of water adsorbed on the zeolite. This moisture is vaporized during regeneration of the adsorbent, and the vapor contacts the cooler vessel walls to
Thermocouple
In severe duty units, standard molecular sieve can break down and form cake against vessel walls
Performance
Ability to recover from liquid/amine carryover incidences Improved breakup resistance under reflux conditions Breakup resistance ensures stable pressure drop leading to increased liquid recovery and reduced recompression costs
Features
Robust formulation resistant to glycol/amine carryover to adsorber beds Tolerance to periodic water/liquid carryover incidences with ability to regain dehydration performance following upsets
Benefits
Improved service life
Lowers risk of premature change-outs or unscheduled shutdowns Enables longer onstream runs Designed to provide enhanced performance stability and a predictable life pattern
Reliability
Improved resistance to coke buildup in the presence of liquid hydrocarbons Withstands coke formation due to methanol coking on the adsorbent
Customer benefits
Prior to use of MOLSIV UI-94 Adsorbent, dumping the agglomerated molecular sieve bed required six days of nitrogen purging to achieve the lower explosive limit required for vessel entry. Excessive purging was needed to purge the hydrocarbons trapped in the molecular sieve agglomerates. Purging of the non-agglomerated MOLSIV UI-94 Adsorbent was possible within a day, resulting in $80,000 in nitrogen savings and avoidance of five off-line days. At full flow rates (200 MMSCFD), the lost gas and NGL revenue equaled approximately $3 million.
UOP solution
Analysis of the 4A molecular sieves showed high levels of coke formation consistent with agglomeration. On-site technical assistance determined the vessels were seeing severe reflux. UOP provided MOLSIV UI-94 Adsorbent, offering break-up and agglomeration resistance, low-coking tendency and performance resiliency in reflux conditions.
Commitment to innovation
At UOP, continued innovation is paramount to the success of our current and future technology and products. Customer opinion and feedback is the cornerstone of our product development programs. We work closely with our customers to identify, review and prioritize their requirements through voice of the customer campaigns.
UOP applies a conscious effort to embark on development programs addressing the challenges, problems and improvement needs of our customers. UOP research scientists and engineers utilize state-of-the-art facilities and tools backed by sophisticated pilot plant support in the development and commercialization of real-world solutions.
Customer benefits
During operations with MOLSIV UI-94 Adsorbent, the plant experienced some liquid carryover instances. However, after these upsets, little or no deterioration of adsorbent performance was observed over prolonged usage. Prior to the use of MOLSIV UI-94 Adsorbent, the frequency of dumping competitive molecular sieve beds averaged nine months. At full flow rates (600 MMSCFD), the plant was able to operate 30 months with UOP MOLSIV UI-94 Adsorbent. At these flow rates, avoiding two shutdowns resulted in savings of more than seven online days. Overall savings for the unit exceeded $5 Million (including adsorbent replacement savings).
UOP solution
UOPs adsorbents technical service team conducted an audit of the facility, and the cause of failure was identified as liquid water carryover from the upstream separator. Proprietary modeling on operating conditions also revealed a reflux situation in the adsorber vessel. UOP provided a recharge of MOLSIV UI-94 Adsorbent, which offers break-up and agglomeration resistance.