Improve the quality of sour gas into the sulfur recovery unit on condition of ensure purification
degree of H
2
S.
Since the mid-80s of 20th century, lots of research on selective desulfurizing solvent has been
developed [2]. In this paper, sterically hindered amine which is a kind of selectivity desulfurizing
solvent is researched. Recently, Exxon Research and Engineering Company have developed a kind of
sterically hindered amine-based H
2
S-selective gas treating processes. The processes have been
commercially applied. They claimed that the new hindered amine-based processes would be
potentially attractive replacements for the existing selective H
2
S removal processes including MDEA
based and direct conversion processes [3].
Sterically hindered amine belong to the compounds that one or two replace groups attached to the
nitrogen atoms in their molecules, which can produce sterically hindrance effect of the new type of
organic amine [4]. The effect makes amino-group more chemical activation[5]. For example, 2-
amino-2-methyl-1-propanol(AMP), menthane diamine(MDA) and 2-piperidinealcohol(PE).
Since the sterically hindered amine was reported, many of the researches have been studied by
domestic and foreign scholars. Presented a process development work using hindered amine as the
promoter of hot carbonate solutions for simultaneous absorption of H
2
S and CO
2
Say et al. [6].
Numerically interpreted the simultaneous mass transfer of CO
2
and H
2
S into aqueous blends of
MDEA and DEA Rascol et al. [7]. The work of Mandal presented an experimental and theoretical
investigation of the simultaneous absorption of CO
2
and H
2
S into aqueous blends of AMP and DEA
[8]. Simulated selective H
2
S absorption in aqueous amine solutions using a rate-based mode Nadhir
et al. [9] and Markus et al. [10]. However, in the current literature, studies on a sterically hindered
amine, especially a severe hindered amine (e.g., AMP) for high selective removal of H
2
S from gas
streams containing CO
2
and H
2
S are rarely reported.
This work synthesized a kind of new sterically hindered amine with two tertiarybutyl alkyls
respectively attaches to two N atoms which called DTBP. H
2
S-selective absorption into the aqueous
solution of MDEA, AMP and DTBP were investigated. The experiments dealt with the system of
simultaneous absorption of tri-component gases (CO
2
, H
2
S, N
2
) into the aqueous solution of
absorbents (MDEA, AMP, DTBP) in a absorber at atmospheric pressure in this work. The effects of
temperature, amine concentration were studied. Furthermore, experimental data from the solution of
BTAP was compared with that from the aqueous solution of MDEA and AMP. Sterically hindered
amine selectivity of H
2
S(S) was determinated. The emphasis of this work focused on the selective
removal of H
2
S from gas mixtures containing both CO
2
and H
2
S using the DTBP aqueous solution.
2. Theory
2.1. Characteristics of molecular structure of sterically hindered amines
Amines are commonly subdivided into primary, secondary and tertiary amines according to the
number of alkyl groups attached to N atom in the molecule of amines. MDEA belongs to tertiary
amines, AMP belongs to primary amine and DTBP belong to secondary amines, and their molecule
structures are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Molecule structure of MDEA, AMP and DTBP.