Last modified: 2021-11-15
Abstract
Purification of natural gas is one way to remove impurities in natural gas. The purification is in the form of dehydration to remove water that can form hydrates in the pipe and the CO2 content which is the biggest polluter in natural gas. In this study, an adsorber column with silica-sodium polyacrylate and activated carbon as an alternative packing material for the purification of natural gas has been used which has been using the Triethylene Glycol (TEG) process. The effectiveness of absorption on the adsorber column was measured by calculating the air and CO2 content using GC – MS on natural gas after the adsorption process. Next, the natural gas passes through the hose to the silica–sodium polyacrylate hybrid particle adsorber column. Silica-sodium polyacrylate particles function as polar adsorbents to absorb water and activated carbon acts as non-polar adsorbents to absorb CO2. From the experimental results, natural gas passes through the silica-sodium polyacrylate adsorbent and activated carbon with a flow rate of 0.1 L/minute, the air content is absorbed at 50 minutes. While at a flow rate of 0.2 L/minute and 0.3 L/minute absorbed at minute 60. The experimental results of the adsorption process of CO2 content at variations in the flow rate of CO2 0.1 L/minute, 0.2 L/minute, 0.3 L/minute obtained results in a row of 98.49% CH4, 94, 79% CH4, 92.36% CH4. The CO2 absorbers at flow rates of 0.1 L/min, 0.2 L/min, and 0.3 L/min started to saturate after 40, 20, and 10 minutes, respectively. The experimental results prove the ability of silica-sodium polyacrylate particles and activated carbon to be effective in air absorption up to 100% effectiveness. Meanwhile, at optimal contact time, the smaller the incoming CO2 flow rate, the greater the ability of the tool to absorb CO2.