Methods and systems for reducing the concentration of amine in wash liquid used in industrial processing

A method for reducing the concentration of amines in an acid gas scrubbing process gas effluent, the method comprising

• introducing exhaust gas containing acid gas into an absorber vessel, the vessel containing a solvent comprising a solution having less than 50% water and one or more amines;
• flowing the exhaust gas through the solvent whereby at least a portion of the acid gas from the exhaust gas is absorbed by the solvent and at least a portion of the solvent is absorbed by the exhaust gas thereby forming a gas having an increased concentration of amine and a reduced concentration of acid gas;
• washing the gas with the increased concentration of amine with a wash liquid in a wash section thereby removing at least a portion of the amine from the gas and absorbing the removed amine into the wash liquid;
• introducing the wash stream exiting the wash section to an adsorbent material, wherein the wash stream has a first concentration of amines,
• flowing the wash stream having the first concentration of amines through the adsorbent material, the adsorbent material retaining at least a portion of the amines thereby providing a wash stream having a second, reduced concentration of amines, and
• recycling the wash stream having the second, reduced concentration of amines to the wash section in order to be reused therein, whereby providing a recycled wash stream with a relatively low concentration of amines to the wash section improves effectiveness of amine removal in the wash section thereby reducing the concentration of amines in the acid gas scrubbing process gas effluent.