Spreading demand for gas treatment

David Knott
London
[email protected]

Since the fall of the communist regime, gas-producing countries among former Soviet Union (FSU) satellites have been increasingly competing for customers inside and outside the FSU.

Some of their target customers in western Europe have tighter specifications for sales gas than the Soviet regime, so the new republics are keen to import gas treatment technology.

Uzbekistan is the only former Soviet state to increase gas output since the Soviet system collapsed. Total production averaged 480 MMcfd in 1991 and rose to 860 MMcfd in 1995.

Shelby Oostwouder, marketing manager for Gas/Spec technology at Dow Chemical Co., says the company has been selling products to Uzbekistan for a long time.

"We have a long history of working with the Soviet Union," said Oostwouder, "hence, Uzbek customers have been willing to sign contracts as end-user specs in western Europe have become important."

New applications

Dow sells two proprietary gas processing products: iron chelates catalysts for removal of hydrogen sulfide and a family of amines for removal of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide.

The company manufactures the chemicals at Freeport, Tex., and has a terminal at Botlek, Netherlands, to hold stocks for supply to both western and eastern Europe.

In addition to former Soviet satellites with a need to treat gas to tighter specifications, Dow is also finding many new non-petroleum applications for gas treatment chemicals.

"Oil and gas industry has for a long time had to treat its gas," said Oostwouder. "Now many other industries are also having to do the same as environmental legislation becomes stricter.

"This is particularly true in Europe, where lots of industries are now having to remove H2S and CO2. There is also a trend among refiners to use crude oil with higher sulfur content."

One growing application for gas treatment is in electricity generation from landfill site gas. These sites often produce large amounts of H2S, which needs removing.

Site specific

Oostwouder cites a starch manufacturer in the Netherlands that uses iron chelates to remove sulfur from a biogas stream.

There is also a wooden flooring manufacturer that removes H2S from its coatings.

At Gommern in eastern Germany, Oostwouder said a customer is redeveloping an old gas field that has sour gas. Indonesia is also having to treat gases produced from its geo- thermal power projects.

Although sales volumes are relatively low, Dow finds itself spending lots of time on individual projects and working with each project for many years.

Oostwouder said gas treatment requirements are highly site-dependent. Virtually all sites require complete H2S removal, but the amount of CO2 removal required-and the specifics of treatment-vary tremendously.

"Refiners are choosing high-sulfur crudes for economic reasons," said Oostwouder, "and gas-using facilities in a range of industries all over the world are now pushing their design envelopes outwards.

"Sometimes products such as ours can prevent the need for further massive investment in H2S and CO2 removal plants."