# US 7,232,505 B2 · Method of regenerating an aqueous glycol solution containing salts

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- Number: US 7,232,505 B2
- Document ID: US7232505B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 10/691,508
- Filed: 2003-10-24
- Published: 2005-04-07
- Granted: 2007-06-19
- Earliest claimed: 2002-10-28
- Assignees: Institut Francais du Petrole; Prosernat
- Inventors: Géraldine Laborie; Fabrice Lecomte; Chantal Rigaill; Lionel Waintraub
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US7232505B2

## CPC

- C07C 29/76: by physical treatment
- C07C 29/80: by distillation
- C10L 3/106: {of water}
- C10L 3/107: {Limiting or prohibiting hydrate formation}
- C10L 2290/12: Regeneration of a solvent, catalyst, adsorbent or any other component used to treat or prepare a fuel
- C10L 2290/543: Distillation, fractionation or rectification for separating fractions, components or impurities during preparation or upgrading of a fuel
- Y10S 203/09: Plural feed
- C07C: ACYCLIC OR CARBOCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
- C10L: FUELS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; NATURAL GAS; SYNTHETIC NATURAL GAS OBTAINED BY PROCESSES NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C10G OR C10K; LIQUIFIED PETROLEUM GAS; USE OF ADDITIVES TO FUELS OR FIRES; FIRE-LIGHTERS
- Y10S: TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS

## Abstract

Method of regenerating a glycol solution containing water, hydrocarbons and salts. The glycol solution is expanded in drum (2), then distilled in column (7). The concentrated glycol collected at the level of reboiler (8) is placed under vacuum to vaporize the water and to precipitate the salts. The salts are separated from the glycol in separation device (13). The concentrated glycol freed of the salts is stored in capacity (16).

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of regenerating a glycol solution containing water, hydrocarbons and dissolved salts, comprising the following stages:
a) expanding said solution so as to release hydrocarbons and to obtain a hydrocarbon-poor solution,
b) distilling in a distillation column the hydrocarbon-poor solution obtained in stage a) to obtain a glycol-enriched solution and a vapor comprising water and hydrocarbons,
c) placing under vacuum a first part of the glycol-enriched solution obtained in stage b) under a pressure below 90,000 Pa abs. to obtain vaporized water and a glycol solution comprising precipitated salts, and
d) separating the precipitated salts from the glycol solution obtained in stage c) to obtain precipitated salts and a salt-depleted glycol solution, wherein the salts comprise at least one compound selected from the group consisting of sodium chloride, potassium chloride, calcium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, sodium sulfate, potassium sulfate and calcium sulfate.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the following stages:
e) placing under vacuum the salt-depleted glycol solution obtained in stage d) under a pressure below 50,000 Pa abs. to obtain vaporized water and a glycol solution comprising precipitated salts,
f) separating the precipitated salts from the glycol solution obtained in stage e) to obtain precipitated salts and a second salt-depleted glycol solution.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein, in stage d), the precipitated salts are separated from the glycol solution by means of at least one of the following techniques: filtration, centrifugation, ultrasonic separation.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein, before stage c), the glycol-enriched solution obtained in stage b) is cooled to a temperature ranging between 30° C. and 150° C.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein, before stage c), the glycol-enriched solution obtained in stage b) is heated to a temperature ranging between 30° C. and 150° C.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein, in stage a), said solution is expanded to a pressure ranging between 0.1 MPa and 2 MPa abs. and wherein, in stage b), distillation is performed at atmospheric pressure.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the following stages are further carried out:
cooling the vapor containing water and hydrocarbons obtained in stage b) to obtain steam, a liquid hydrocarbon phase and an aqueous phase, and
sending part of the aqueous phase to the top of the distillation column.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the following stage is further carried out:
feeding the vaporized water obtained in stage c) into said distillation column.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the following stage is further carried out:
combining a second part of the glycol-enriched solution obtained in stage b) with the salt-depleted glycol solution obtained in stage d).

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the following stage is further carried out:
feeding water into the salt-depleted glycol solution obtained in stage d).

### Claim 11

A method of regenerating a glycol solution containing water, hydrocarbons and dissolved salts, comprising the following stages:
a) expanding said solution so as to release hydrocarbons and to obtain a hydrocarbon-poor solution,
b) distilling in a distillation column the hydrocarbon-poor solution obtained in stage a) to obtain a glycol-enriched solution and a vapor comprising water and hydrocarbons,
c) placing under vacuum a first part of the glycol-enriched solution obtained in stage b) under a pressure below 90,000 Pa abs. to obtain vaporized water and a glycol solution comprising precipitated salts,
d) separating the precipitated salts from the glycol solution obtained in stage c) to obtain precipitated salts and a salt-depleted glycol solution,
e) placing under vacuum the salt-depleted glycol solution obtained in stage d) under a pressure below 50,000 Pa abs. to obtain vaporized water and a glycol solution comprising precipitated salts, and
f) separating the precipitated salts from the glycol solution obtained in stage e) to obtain precipitated salts and a second salt-depleted glycol solution, wherein the second salt-depleted glycol solution f) heats the hydrocarbon-poor solution obtained in stage a).

### Claim 12

A method of regenerating a glycol solution containing water, hydrocarbons and dissolved salts, comprising the following stages:
a) expanding said solution so as to release hydrocarbons and to obtain a hydrocarbon-poor solution,
b) distilling in a distillation column the hydrocarbon-poor solution obtained in stage a) to obtain a glycol-enriched solution and a vapor comprising water and hydrocarbons,
c) placing under vacuum a first part of the glycol-enriched solution obtained in stage b) under a pressure below 90,000 Pa abs. to obtain vaporized water and a glycol solution comprising precipitated salts, and
d) separating the precipitated salts from the glycol solution obtained in stage c) to obtain precipitated salts and a salt-depleted glycol solution, wherein the glycol consists of a compound selected from the group consisting of monoethylene glycol, diethylene glycol and triethylene glycol.