Experimental study and techno-economical evaluation of Khangiran sour natural gas condensate desulfurization process

There is a serious global concern for removal of different sulfur components from a variety of hydrocarbon products leading to strict regulations to keep sulfur content of various fuels as low as possible. Sour gas condensate production in Khangiran refinery has been tripled in the last 6 years due to the approach of reservoir conditions to the natural gas phase envelope boundary. The significant quantity of sour condensate produced creates several operational and environmental difficulties. To propose a proper process for removal of sulfur species from Khangiran sour condensate, several experiments are performed by considering various scenarios. The oxidative desulfurization process provided best results and is able to decrease the total sulfur content from 8500 ppm to less than 700 ppm by eliminating all hydrogen sulfide and mercaptans and severely reducing other heavy sulfur containing compounds. The odor of the treated condensate was completely improved due to removal of all volatile sulfur components. The preliminary techno-economic evaluation of an industrial scale process is performed based on the experimental results. It is clearly shown that the proposed process is beneficial from both financial and environmental standpoints.

► Sour condensate production in Khangiran refinery has been tripled in last 6 years.
► Deep desulfurization of sour condensate has been successfully achieved via H2SO4.
► Preliminary techno-economic evaluation of an industrial scale process is performed.