Operational Experience of HiPACT Process

Abstract

We would like to share some of the challenges faced during the first commercial use of the HiPACT® technology. HiPACT® is a technology jointly developed by JGC and BASF, which has now been successfully implemented by NIS, a Serbian multinational oil and gas company. HiPACT® is an advanced solvent based CO2 capture technology that contributes to improving the economics of Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS) in natural gas processing plants as well as Carbon dioxide Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) projects such as Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). The solvent has excellent stability against thermal degradation, which enables operation at high pressure and elevated temperatures during solvent regeneration to reduce CO2 compression costs downstream. In addition, it also has a higher CO2 absorption capacity than other commercially available solvents which results in decreased solvent circulation rates and lower Acid Gas Removal Unit (AGRU) capital and operating costs. As the first commercial implementation, a HiPACT® unit was installed at the Elemir site which is owned by NIS with the aim of meeting the technical requirements of the national gas distribution network in Serbia. The natural gas was firstly introduced in January 2015 and continued for a trial run period until July 2015. The gas processing plant was then successfully commissioned and has been in commercial operation ever since this time. This paper presents i) operational experience with the HiPACT® unit and ii) economic evaluation including the compressor section to show the advantage of HiPACT® over state-of-the-art technology currently used worldwide.