Energy, exergy, economic, and environmental analysis of natural gas sweetening process using lean vapor compression: a comparison study

Abstract Gas sweetening with an aqueous solution of diethanolamine is a crucial and common process in natural gas processing. However, the process, particularly in the solvent regeneration section, consumes a substantial amount of energy, significantly escalating the cost of gas. This paper presents a simulation and optimization of an existing natural gas refinery plant using a lean vapor compression method. The simulation results indicate that the current process requires 2.73 GJ/tacid gas for solvent regeneration, with exergy destruction of 14,120.59 kW in the solvent regeneration section. The total annualized cost for the current process is 11.68 M$. A modified scheme is proposed to address the issue of high energy consumption and the associated costs. The proposed scheme demonstrates significant improvements in the aforementioned parameters. Specifically, energy for solvent regeneration, exergy destruction in the solvent regeneration section, total annualized cost, and cost of gas are reduced by 16.12 %, 25.04 %, 20.97 %, and 20 % compared to the current process, respectively. These improvements enhance the thermoeconomic indexes, making the proposed scheme a viable and cost-effective alternative to the current process.