Growing gas demand, combined with declining conventional sweet gas reserves, necessitates ultra-sour gas development. Development of these ultra-sour reserves encounters many technical challenges that were previously met with conservatism due to limited operational experience, leading to greater facility costs and, in some cases, lower gas treating efficiency.

This technology directly responds to the gas market's need for improved ultra-sour gas treatment to meet gas demand. Conventional acid gas removal systems operating at low-pressure require molecular sieves or other purification systems downstream to remove mercaptans. This approach is much more capital intensive, increasing both the capital and operating costs of a facility.

Fluor's practical solution addresses safety by removing acid gas to safe levels through initial low-pressure treatment in an absorber column. Once sufficient acid gas is removed, a high-pressure absorber column follows to remove mercaptans. The solvent used for this system is the same solvent used in Fluor's Improved Econamine℠ Process.

Our two-stage process mitigates the safety risks associated with ultra-sour gas processing, while achieving more than 90% total mercaptan removal efficiency and practically complete removal of other unwanted components (H₂S, CO₂ and COS).