DrM Shanghai Transport

Using FUNDABAC® Candle Filters for activated carbon to prevent undesired substances in wastewater streams

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DrM Shanghai Transport

Removal of methanol in wastewater stream

DrM Shanghai recently delivered four FUNDABAC® filter systems for activated carbon to a Chinese client for the removal of methanol in a wastewater stream. In the process our filter in conjunction with activated carbon makes use of the ability to adsorb certain substances at a high affinity and purify the liquid. The adsorption affinity of substances is given by the specific nature of the molecule. Typically, non-polar organic substances such as organic matter have a high affinity. But also metal ions such as silver, arsenic, bismuth, cobalt, and many other heavy metals can readily be removed. Also smaller non-polar molecules such has oxygen, ammonia, bromine or iodine get trapped within the pores of activated carbon particles.

Basically, there are a number of ways to apply active carbon for the treatment of liquids. Often, granulated powder is filled into a column where the liquid is passed through the carbon bed from top to bottom. While doing so the impurities get adsorbed and the carbon gets loaded over time. When fully loaded the carbon needs to be removed, which is normally done by water back-flush. While this is a simple method it has the disadvantage of creating significant amounts of slurry. At the same time the bed is sensitive to particulate matters. If the liquid stream contains small amounts of solids these can accumulate on the top layer of the bed and block the whole column which leads to early replacement and hence low efficiency of the equipment. Applying a small powdered active carbon layer on a filter surface on the other hand can significantly increase the yield. The advantage of an efficient dry cake discharge with the FUNDABAC® additionally reduces the waste generation.

In the case of waste water streams, you typically find all sorts of undesired substances, such as heavy metals, colloidal particles, bacteria or other microorganisms. These prematurely block active carbon layers and render carbon columns not very effective. The FUNDABAC® Filter on the other hand is extremely well adapted for these processes.

Active Carbon FUNDABAC® Filters

Active Carbon FUNDABAC® Filter

Active Carbon FUNDABAC® Filters

N95 face masks

FUNDABAC® Filters used for viscose production to help with current demand of face masks during coronavirus

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Production of N95 masks

Just a few months ago nobody would have expected the need to wear face masks in public. And yet, here we are, trying to get our hands on this sought-after item, each one of us seemingly becoming specialist in understanding the different types, names and forms during the coronavirus outbreak. However, when it comes to materials of construction you need to do some digging as this is not often discussed. But being involved daily with the subject of filtration it would make some sense to understand what materials are used for the filtration of such aerosols and liquid particles.

The N95 mask, the most common type found on the market stands for 95% filtrability of particles larger than 0.3 microns. To achieve such separation levels, finely non-woven fibres are applied in loose layers to make it breathable. Some producers apply polypropylene, but many of them use Rayon fibres. This material has high mechanical strength, is stable in water and humidity and has a very comfortable touch on the skin. Normally, it is mainly used to make textiles for clothing but during the pandemic a significant quantity is diverted for the production of surgical masks.

Rayon, also called viscose, is produced from wood pulp by a chemical digestion process where this viscous liquid is formed and spun into fibres. Strong and hot acids are applied to flush away impurities. For cleaning the acids filtration equipment is required. The FUNDABAC® filter has a long tradition in this industry as its strong plastic internals can cope with the tough environment.

Due to the high demand of masks, raw material producers run at their limits and DrM was asked to supply new equipment within 3 months to be able to cope with this surge. We are proud to announce that we did not only match this delivery time but could significantly shorten it, which led to the decision of our client to immediately place another two orders.

filter in use with workshop people

Waste Water Treatment in Precipitated Silica Production

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Precipitated silica

Since many years the tire industry relies on precipitated silica as an important reinforcement agent in the rubber to improve its performance, such as wet-skid resistance, steering controllability and wear resistance. In general, it plays a major role in the safety of a vehicle and its fuel consumption. But precipitated silica are also extensively used as filler material, anti-caking agents and in oral care products.

Precipitated silica are formed in a reaction process where an alkaline silicate solution is mixed with a mineral acid, while carefully controlling the reaction conditions such as pH, temperature, agitation, time and concentrations. The large quantities of formed silica are separated, washed and then dried. Due to formation of agglomerates, especially in higher concentrations, the solids can be easily handled with conventional equipment such as filter presses. However, due to the sub-micron size of the particles there is slippage, resulting in a polluted waste water stream which needs to be treated.

The CONTIBAC® Filter is the ideal equipment for this application. With its excellent filtration efficiency and the highly effective back-flushing scheme, the waste water can be purified in a single process step, replacing a whole set of process equipment.

FUNDABAC® candle filters have proven to be an ideal choice for many industrial waste water streams where high quality and efficient separation is required. Typical applications are found in the chemical, electronics, pharmaceutical and steel industry.

Lithium

Lithium Is Here To Stay – For Now

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Despite intensive research with alternative materials, there is nothing on the horizon which could replace Lithium

Both Lithium Hydroxide (LiOH) and Lithium Carbonate (LiCO3) prices have been pointing downwards for the past few months and the recent market shakeup certainly does not improve the situation.

However, despite intensive research with alternative materials, there is nothing on the horizon which could replace Lithium as a building block for modern battery technology within the next few years. As we know from the producers of the various Lithium battery formulations, the devil lies in the detail and this is where experience is gained to gradually improve energy density, quality, safety of the cells.

As mobility moves forward to new grounds with many EVs being introduced nearly at weekly intervals, the industry is looking for reliable sources and technology. For those automotive manufacturers it is irrelevant what is happening in the research labs. They need the products here and now.

So, whatever the future will bring in respect to Lithium, Sodium, Hydrogen or any other promising energy concepts, the best outlook is to concentrate on steady improvements with existing products. This includes compounds such as lithium nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) and lithium nickel-cobalt-aluminum (NCA) cathodes which show superior energy densities to lithium iron phosphate (LFP) at a cost of greater instability. NCM cathodes are most commonly used while R&D is intensely looking for ways to reduce dependency on cobalt. One way is to increase the concentration of nickel without sacrificing on the internal crystal structure of the electrode. It seems that at higher nickel concentrations only LiOH will give stable performance while LiCO3 reduces the lifespan of the battery.

This reflects the trend to invest more into LiOH production as compared to LiCO3. And here comes the lithium source into play: Spodumene rock is significantly more flexible in terms of production process. It allows for a streamlined production of LiOH while the use of lithium brine normally leads through LiCO3 as an intermediary to produce LiOH. Hence, the production cost of LiOH is significantly lower with spodumene as source instead of brine. It is clear that with the shear quantity of lithium brine available in the world, eventually new process technologies must be developed to efficiently apply this source. With various companies investigating new process we will eventually see this coming. But for now spodumene is a safer bet.

With its impressive experience gained in this industry, DrM is actively involved with a number of technology companies developing purification stages with the target to improve efficiency and streamline the process. Both for spodumene and brine as source material, we are being contacted as a technology partner to provide equipment and know-how as early in the development stage as possible. With pilot equipment readily available in strategic places such as Australia, Chile, Argentina, China, Korea and Japan we can ensure quick turnarounds and provide flexibility in the often complex decision-taking process.

Maritime

Maritime Off Gas Scrubbing

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Background

The maritime industry is facing great changes: Starting 1st of January 2020, vessels without exhaust-gas scrubbers will only be allowed to use fuel with a maximum sulphur content of 0.5%, while an even stricter 0.1% limit applies in Emission Control Areas (ECAs). The current industry standard is fuels with a sulphur cap of 3.5%. Only ships equipped with exhaust-gas scrubbers can continue to use cheaper high-sulphur fuel oil, HSFO. The so-called IMO2020 regulation is the first in a series of International Maritime Organization (IMO) measures to reduce marine pollution.

Global Sulphur Cap and Emission Control Areas (ECA’s) around the Globe

Maritime Exhaust Gas Scrubbing & Water Filtration

The legislation refers to fuel sulphur levels but allows the shipping industry to use abatement technologies, provided that the technology reduces the emission of SOx into the atmosphere at the same or lower levels. In this sense scrubbers are recognized an efficient technology to reduce sulphur and particulate emission.

Scrubbers are configured in different ways, as open loop, closed loop or hybrid systems. Nowadays most ship owners select a hybrid system, which balances economy with operating flexibility. In a hybrid scrubber arrangement, both open-loop and closed-loop modes (blue and, respectively, red line in the schematic below) are readily available. Open-loop operation reduces costs whenever possible, but a switch to closed-loop operation can be made whenever local water discharge regulations demand it.

Closed loop or hybrid systems require an efficient water cleaning unit, as the recycled water always needs to be kept within a certain quality in order to have a proper sulphur removal from the exhaust gases and avoid any precipitation and consequent fouling anywhere in the loop. Emitting off-gas not being compliant with the environmental regulations is severely fined by local authorities.

Whereas a variety of scrubber designs are available on the market, thus allowing to select among a number possibilities for the off-gas cleaning itself, the proper treatment of the scrubbing liquid is a challenge that cannot be regarded as properly addressed so far. Currently available filtration technologies have certain disadvantages and limitations, such as :

  • discharge of wet sludges that cause high disposal cost or require further on-shore treatment
  • complicate multi-stage treatment systems
  • excessive use of chemicals, filter aids or additives

Pilot Testing on Stena Line Vessels

DrM already holds an extensive experience in filtration of scrubbing liquid from flue gas treatment system, with 170+ units already in operation on this same application worldwide, half of which deployed exactly for SOx absorption and soot removal.

On the basis of such a comprehensive background, DrM teamed up with a shipping company for on-board filtration testing. Objective of the campaign was to test a novel, single stage filtration system under realistic conditions.

Following lab testing at DrM’s facility in Männedorf a DrM FUNDABAC® pilot filter system was installed on two different vessels for several months, Stena Vinga (Sept.- Oct. 2019) and Stena Scandinavica (Dec. 2019- March 2020).

Results and Conclusion

Pilot tests proved the performance and advantages of the FUNDABAC® Filter System:

  • Single stage, direct filtration system
  • Discharge of a dry filter cake, alternatively slurry discharge possible
  • Clear filtrate with turbidity < 1 NTU
  • No use of chemicals, flocculants, filter aids or “magic” additives
  • Closed system, automatic operation, low operator intervention
  • No rotation or moving parts, no drives or mechanical seals
  • Simple, reliable and efficient

Based on the experimental results obtained during the pilot scale tests, a few standard FUNDABAC® Filter models have been identified as a good fit for some of the most typical scrubbing capacities. These are summarised in the table below.
Smaller or larger Models are available too.

Please contact DrM for discussing in better detail about the possibilities of our filtration systems.

Selection Table of Standard FUNDABAC® Filter Models

Dry cake discharge of a FUNDABAC® pilot filter unit

installing candles into the FUNDABAC® Candle Filter

How the Innovation and Success of the FUNDABAC® Filter shaped DrM

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Behind the FUNDABAC® legacy

DrM is the work and legacy of an entrepreneurial personality Dr.-Ing. chem. Hans Mueller (1913-1984). He was an ingenious inventor as well as a dynamic industrialist.

Even as a young chemist in Paris in the 1930s where he started his first business producing detergents, he recognized the dangers of air pollution stemming from cars, so he invented and patented the car catalyst. But as it sometimes happens, you can either be too late, or in this case too early…

After his factory was bombed during WW2 he returned to Switzerland. One of his biggest inventions at that time was the thin-film evaporator and the sale of this patent to the company LUWA provided the funds to establish a new company.

Soon new inventions were added, which he developed in his newly established enterprise Chemap AG. These were primarily the successful FUNDA® filter, the first filter with centrifugal discharge. More than 5000 systems were used for simple and complex filter problems in all branches of industry for solid/liquid separation.

At the beginning of the 1980s, Dr. Mueller ended up selling Chemap AG.

However, in order to be able to continue with his latest generation of filters, which he believed had great market potential, he founded another company and started once again with his most experienced employees. This was the birth of DrM, Dr. Mueller AG and the FUNDABAC® Filter.

The FUNDABAC® system fulfilled the technical and business expectations rapidly and soon his life’s work was being built and delivered all over the world. Dr. Hans Mueller still had two intensive years to give the necessary impetus to his pioneering achievement.

Simple construction with new technical possibilities

The FUNDABAC® filter revolutionized an old principle and captivated clients by its refined simplicity and flexibility. Whether there were many or few solids in the liquid to be filtered, FUNDABAC® was able to solve the problem. The simple construction made it possible to manufacture the filter vessel out of steel, stainless steel, plastic-coated, rubber-coated or enameled. The internal components were supplied either in steel, stainless steel, PP, PVDF or PPS. The simple construction solved corrosion problems cost-effectively.

The FUNDABAC® enabled an easy discharge of residues in three variants:

  1. dry
  2. slurry
  3. continuous thickening

The latter was carried out using the CONTIBAC® process, which continuously discharged the residues at short intervals. The FUNDABAC® cleaning of the filter media was carried out without any problems by backflushing with liquid and/or by gas blowing under high pressure.

Present and Future Innovations

In the meantime the FUNDABAC® Filter has advanced into many new fields of applications with various innovations and patents around the same filtration principle. As the industry is progressing into new materials, larger scales, streamlined processes to increase yields and become more efficient as well as into circular economies, the scalability of the FUNDABAC® can offer great value in many cases. As a contributor to a more ecological future it will also play an important role for the years to come.

fundabac® filter skid

news

Wastewater plant

FUNDABAC® reduces environmental impact of hazardous intermediary compounds in PVC production

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DrM was asked by a major European PVC producer to help develop a treatment of VCM waste water stream in PVC production.

Biodegradability Difficulty of PVC

With a production capacity of 56 Mio. tpa, Vinyl Chloride (VCM) is one of the 20 largest petrochemical compounds in the world and is mainly used to produce PVC. Due to its material properties, such as strength, light weight and resilience against chemicals, weathering and UV radiation it has important applications in the building and bottling industry.

With the inherent strength of the C-Cl bond, chlorinated compounds are much more stable than simple hydrocarbons, such as PE or PP. On one side this has many advantages for materials which need to last a long time. However, in terms of biodegradability, PVC does not perform well.

While the end product PVC is very stable, intermediary compounds, mainly chlorinated hydrocarbons (CHC) such as EDC, VCM and a number of by-products are hazardous and pose a significant risk to the environment and humans. It is therefore imperative that measures are taken to prevent any of those substances leaking into the environment during production.

Production Process

Most of the VCM is synthesized via the Direct Chlorination Process for producing EDC. It involves a liquid phase reaction of ethylene and chlorine using an FeCl3 catalyst. A properly optimized reactor produces EDC with 99% purity and trace amounts of trichloroethane, HCl, ethylene and chlorine. An NaOH scrubber removes FeCl3 contamination from the catalyst. The waste gas coming from Direct Chlorination can react in the Oxychlorination Process to obtain additional EDC, but producing significant amounts of water and CO2. The purified EDC is sent to a pyrolysis which oxidizes the compound and produces VCM and HCl. The products are quenched to prevent formation of coke and tar. A number of undesirable by-products are formed which can reduce the end product quality. In the final purification stage, distillation is applied which separates VCM, while the by-products undergo further catalytic oxidation and hydrogenation steps to convert them into CO2, HCl and water.

Waste Water Treatment

The waste waters formed in the PVC production still contain a number of impurities which contaminate environment and are hazardous to life. In a series of pilot tests performed at site feasibility was proven and the filtration process was optimized in terms of filtrability, filtrate quality and waste production to be able to capture the bulk of the contaminants down to sub-micron range.

Outcome of the FUNDBAC® Filter

With two FUNDABAC® filters to operate in parallel, DrM has now delivered skid-mounted units, which will commence operation shortly. With these completely functional units, the operator expects to significantly reduce its environmental impact and fully comply with European regulations.

Filter system for PVC production

Candle filters in Rare Earth Processing

The Importance of Rare Earth and its Filtration Applications

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DrM Systems Extensively Deployed in Mining Applications

All over the World, more than 150 filtration units are currently in operation in processes where Nickel, Copper, Lithium and Rare Earth Elements (RRE), only to name the most important ones, are produced.

The technical development over the last decades is resulting in an increased need of RREs for a variety of applications. This article focuses on Rare Earth Elements production and provides an overview about the process improvements allowed by FUNDABAC® and CONTIBAC® filtration systems.

REEs occupy position 57 to 71 in the lanthanide group of the periodic table. These elements are not rare in nature, as the name might seem to indicate, but rather, they are called rare because they are difficult to isolate from each other, as they are chemically very similar.

Most REEs are metals, and always occur as mixed ores with multiple RE components – when you find them in nature, the whole family shows up! This is different from other metal sources, such as iron or copper, which most commonly occur as a single metal.

Two commercially significant ores which contain REEs, monazite and bastnaesite, are embedded in sand (monazite) and rock formations (bastnaesite) and require hydro-metallurgical processing.

The heavier lanthanides (Gadolinium through Lutetium) are more prevalent in monazite ores, whereas bastnaesite ore is richer on light Rare Earth species (Lanthanum through Europium). Cerium, although a light REE is found in both ores and is actually the most abundant RE element found in nature. It is typically extracted as an oxide concentrate after cracking the mineral ore by solid/liquid separation. It has been used traditionally in glass polishing, as misch-metal, and as a petroleum refining catalyst where large tonnages are consumed. A new significant use of Cerium is in the catalytic converters of automobiles. Other REEs appear in smaller concentration in nature, but have significant commercial importance for some newer applications, found in all aspects of modern life: they are essential for hybrid and electric cars, LED lighting, electric generators in windmills, in medicine for MRI instruments, military uses, cell phones, tv’s – all at small concentrations in each of these devices, but the REEs provide unique functions in these applications. Like Lithium, REEs are labelled energy-critical elements and subject to market turbulences.

Over the past decades, China has been producing about 95% of REEs worldwide, and because of politics and policy this has caused several market upsets. As a result, other countries have increasingly been mining them for domestic sourcing.

The basic process starts with mining and grinding the ore and removing non-REE material (gangue) by flotation. Then the REE-rich powder undergoes a digestive treatment called “cracking”, which produces RE enriched solutions. Depending on ore type, either acids or caustics at elevated temperatures are used in this hydrometallurgical digestion step, producing RE sulfates or hydroxides, plus non-metal solids that are discharged for landfill. All these treatments produce RE concentrates that need further purification steps via solvent and counter-current extractions to isolate individual elements.

Advantages of FUNDABAC® Filters in Rare Earth Processing

FUNDABAC® filters are used to remove the mineral gangue solids from the REE-rich liquor created in the cracking step. Advantages of the FUNDABAC® are corrosion-resistant materials for filter vessel and internals, with plastic components (e.g. PP, PVDF, PPS) that can be applied in certain parts of the plant in place of high cost metal alloys which would be mandatory all over for a system with moving (e.g. rotating) parts.

Robust filter media with fine pore sizes provide the desired filtrate purity. In addition, FUNDABAC® filters allow for the washing of the filter cake in the same unit operation to increase yield of REEs. Depending on cake permeability, spray and/or displacement washing can be applied. Washing is also required for landfilling the cake to prevent groundwater contamination. Last but not least, the FUNDABAC® enables completely enclosed, fully automated operation. Safety is assured for operators working with aggressive fluids at temperatures exceeding 100˚C. Most important, monazite ores contain Thorium and Uranium, which can be safely removed as gases in the enclosed filtration equipment.

CONTIBAC® thickeners may be employed as slurry discharge, higher capacity alternative in isolating cerium oxide from bastnaesite after HCl leaching. If instead a FUNDABAC® filter is installed, again cake washing is used to remove as much liquor as possible, since it contains light REEs. Recovering product and cake washing with a single processing unit streamlines the process and significantly reduces equipment costs. The washed REE of Cerium concentrate is then refined by other technologies.

Modern REE processing facilities recycle spent brines, caustic and salts to reduce raw material cost and minimize waste generation. In these auxiliary operations, FUNDABAC® and CONTIBAC® filters are also used to clarify the weak brine and polish the feed to the electrolyzers. Electrolyzers membranes are very susceptible to even small amount of suspended solids and the superior filtrate quality provided by FUNDABAC® and CONTIBAC® filters (less than 0.3-0.5 ppm for particles as small as 0.5-1 µm) has allowed their successful application upstream of hundreds of electrolytic cells, both in the mining industry and elsewhere.

FUNDABAC CANDLE FILTER SYSTEM

Why Lithium Carbonate and why Lithium Hydroxide?

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A news report prominently shows impressive footage of 4 FUNDABAC® Filter Systems. (0:17 min & 0:50 min)

The increased demand for lithium

As the insatiable demand for energy coupled with ever our increasing need for mobility continues at a furious pace, so too grows the demand for lithium compounds. Demand from the lithium battery market from all applications including mobile devices like mobile phones and tablets, e-bikes, hybrid and electric vehicles and large scale energy storage is growing at an astounding rate. Deutsche Bank believes we are at the dawn of a new automotive era with “unprecedented technological and regulatory change set to come in the next 5 years.”

Many analysts acknowledge that batteries use will drive lithium demand in the future. It has been predicted that overall, lithium demand will more than double from present levels through 2025. Currently there is insufficient supply due to fewer than expected producers of lithium. The general conclusion is that lithium prices will rise, particularly, battery grade lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide should see strong price increases.

Tesla Motors, LG Chem, Boston Power BYD and Foxconn are building battery supper-plants that will come on-stream in the next one to two years. The new supply could revolutionise how we source and use energy, creating a once-in-a-century disruptive event. Last year, the world produced 35GWh worth of battery cells. Total new capacity of 87 GWh should require an additional 70,000t to 100,000t of LCE [lithium carbonate equivalent] by 2021, this supply currently does not exist and requires new producers to come on stream.

Up until very recently lithium carbonate has been the focus of many producers for battery applications. This is because existing battery designs called for cathodes using this raw material. This is about to change. Supply of lithium hydroxide, which is also a key battery cathode raw material, is far less than lithium carbonate at present. It is a more niche product than lithium carbonate, but is also used by major battery producers that are competing with the industrial lubricant industry for the same raw material. Lithium hydroxide is subsequently expected to be in an even shorter supply situation to its carbonate counterpart.

Key advantages of Lithium Hydroxide Battery Cathodes vs. Other Chemical Compounds include better power density (more battery capacity), longer life cycle and enhanced safety features.

Battery grade lithium hydroxide prices are in the range of US$8,375/t to US$8,700/t. In Korea and Japan battery grade lithium hydroxide sell from between US$8,800 to US$10,500. Both Japan and Korea are known to produce high quality lithium batteries. SignumBox forecast the price of lithium hydroxide to steadily increase reaching US$12,000/t by 2031.

Leaders such as Tesla have selected lithium hydroxide batteries for their vehicles. Other auto manufacturers are using designs which can easily switch from lithium carbonate to lithium hydroxide in the future. This is a likely scenario given lithium hydroxide can provide better power density and thereby range.

The battery chemistry is all about range and energy density. This is really game-changing technology. If batteries are the holy grail of the EV, then energy density is the holy grail of batteries and this will come down to the raw materials used.

Why DrM’s FUNDABAC® filtration system?

This all helps to explain the upsurge of companies seeking to build high purity Lithium Hydroxide plants similar to the two streams under construction in Western Australia for the Chinese company Tianqi. DrM have supplied a range of FUNDABAC® polishing and guard filters for various extraction and purification steps for these two streams.

The fully automated DrM FUNDABAC® filtration systems were selected by Tianqi following their experience with the long-term reliability and ease of operation that has been demonstrated with the FUNDABAC® filters in operation with Tianqi in China on their Lithium Carbonate plants since 2010. This experience gave Tianqi the confidence that the FUNDABAC® technology was the best available technology for the strategically important new high purity Lithium Hydroxide plant in Western Australia. In the meantime a number of orders with other clients both in North and South America have been secured.

We are actively working on a number of other hard rock (Spodumene) Lithium extraction projects in Australia, as Spodumene offers a more direct refining route to Lithium Hydroxide than brine processing. Processing brine comes directly to Lithium Carbonate, but should not be ignored in the long term as it is still used and will continue to be used for the cathodes in most current battery technology and the lithium carbonate can be converted to lithium hydroxide and the predicted demand and pricing is expected to keep this an economically viable route.

From our SEA base we are working together with the potential Lithium Hydroxide refiners and specialist engineering companies for mineral processing to help develop the various different extraction process required for the various Spodumene geologies. Our hope and target is to be providing further FUNDABAC® process and guard filters to the new plants that are currently in the planning and feasibility stages.

A major contribution to the world lithium market has come from Australia, the country currently being the biggest influencer, with Chile coming a close second.

Bolivia Lithium

FUNDABAC® Filters - petrochemical

Automated Amine Clean-Up Systems for World-Scale Sour Gas Treatment Plants

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sour gas treatment

High efficient Solid/Liquid Separation

The effective and efficient removal of H2S, CO2 and other contaminants from gas streams is a key issue in the Oil & Gas industry. This is normally achieved by wet scrubbing using a proprietary alkanol amine (for example, MEA. MDEA. DEA, OASE) to “sweeten” the sour gas.

The amine solvent is regenerated by passing the it through a regeneration column. However, the amine solvent becomes contaminated with insoluble solids, which cause corrosion in the scrubber and pipework and, more critically, foaming and fouling in the regeneration column.

In order to eliminate these issues, filters are often fitted to the lean amine stream to remove the insoluble solid contaminants. It is typical to fit these to a 10% or 20% slip stream.

Whilst various types of replaceable cartridge type filters have been used on the lean amine slip streams, these have proven to be maintenance and OPEX intensive. The DrM FUNDABAC® has shown to provide a far superior solution, due to the ability to automatically discharge the collected solids as a dry cake and because of the very low maintenance requirements and OPEX associated with this special design of filter from DrM.

To date more that 120 DrM FUNDABAC® filtration plants have been supplied for this gas sweetening process, on a range of medium and large plant sizes. If you would like further more detailed information on the FUNDABAC® technology, amine treatment process, capabilities and economics, please contact us at our of our offices.