Methods and systems for deacidizing gaseous mixtures

Abstract

An improved process for deacidizing a gaseous mixture using phase enhanced gas-liquid absorption is described. The process utilizes a multiphasic absorbent that absorbs an acid gas at increased rate and leads to reduced overall energy costs for the deacidizing operation.

1 . A system for deacidizing a gaseous mixture comprising an acid gas, comprising:
 an absorption unit adapted to allow contact between the gaseous mixture and an absorbent comprising a carrier phase and an organic phase that is immiscible with the carrier phase,
 wherein the organic phase absorbs the acid gas and converts the acid gas into an absorbed acid gas, so as to convert the absorbent into a gas-rich absorbent and to convert the gaseous mixture into a purified gaseous mixture; and 
 wherein the absorbed acid gas is transferred into the carrier phase, so as to form a first gas-lean phase and a gas-rich phase in the gas-rich absorbent; 
   a separation unit adapted to allow separation of the gas-rich absorbent into a separated first gas-lean phase and a separated gas-rich phase; and   a regeneration unit adapted to allow regeneration of the separated gas-rich phase, so as to obtain the acid gas and a second gas-lean phase.   
   
   
       2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the separation unit is placed in a position lower than the absorption unit, so that the gas-rich absorbent moves downward from the absorption unit to the separation unit by gravity. 
   
   
       3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the regeneration unit is placed in a position lower than the separation unit, so that the separated gas-rich phase moves downward from the separation unit to the regeneration unit by gravity. 
   
   
       4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the absorption unit, the separation unit and the regeneration unit are placed in a single tower, wherein the separation unit is placed in a position lower than the absorption unit and the regeneration unit is placed in a position lower than the separation unit, so that the gas-rich absorbent moves downward from the absorption unit to the separation unit by gravity, and the separated gas-rich phase moves downward from the separation unit to the regeneration unit by gravity.