Recycling and Reuse of Organo-sulfur Compounds from Barrels of Natural Gas Contaminated with Mercaptan Odorant

Abstract

Natural gas is odorized by trace amounts of mercaptans and organic sulfides to be recognized by individuals, in case of gas leakage. These materials may pollute the environment particularly in injection station at local gas plants. Therefore, removal of sulfur compounds from the remaining odorant in barrels is essential. To remove the residual portion of mercaptans and alkylsulfide mixtures different methods were utilized which among them extraction-distillation procedure was implemented in the current study as it is environmentally safe and is a low cost process. Different solvents such as Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK), Ethyl acetate, Dichloromethane (DCM), Toluene and Kerosene were attempted for the efficient extraction which among them kerosene was the most desired and the best solvent. Results showed that the implemented method was highly efficient for the removal of odorants in which the regenerated mercaptan from the contaminated barrels could be reused in injection step as well as the original odorant. The GC and 1HNMR analyses confirmed that the recovered organo-sulfur compounds, mainly composed of tertiary butyl mercaptan, was desired for re-injection into natural gas stream as suitable odorant.