INSUS recommends the lowest solvent circulation required for the gas you are actually treating, while keeping treated-gas quality and rich loading within defined limits. Process engineers approve every change.
01
Reboiler steam and circulation are linked.
02
Treated-gas specification stays protected.
03
Rich loading remains a hard integrity constraint.
The problem
An amine unit has a real operating window. Circulate too little and treated gas can go off-spec or rich loading can move toward corrosion risk. Circulate too much and the unit pays for unnecessary regeneration steam, pumping power and solvent handling. The feed changes continuously, but the circulation rate is often held around a standing margin sized for the worst case.
The shift
The treated-gas specification and integrity limits stay defined. The feed does not. What changes is matching the recommendation to the gas actually entering the unit instead of continuously carrying worst-case circulation margin.
Today
With INSUS
How it works
This fits OptiStudio as treating decision support above the existing amine unit control strategy. Access is read-only. Rich loading limits are mechanical-integrity boundaries, not variables to trade away for energy savings.
Connect
Connect feed gas flow, composition and conditions; absorber pressures and temperatures; lean and rich solvent flow and temperature; solvent loading and concentration; regenerator conditions; reboiler duty or steam flow; treated-gas analyser readings; and solvent-management records.
Understand
Model the relationship between circulation, solvent condition, feed composition and operating conditions to understand how treated gas quality and rich loading actually respond on the specific amine train.
Predict
Estimate treated-gas acid-gas content and rich loading at candidate circulation rates, including uncertainty. Where solvent-condition data supports it, indicators associated with foaming or solvent degradation can also be flagged.
Advise
Advise the lowest circulation and associated regeneration duty that meets the treated-gas specification while keeping rich loading below its corrosion-related limit with appropriate operating margin. Process engineers decide.
Verify
Compare predictions with treated-gas analyser readings and routine rich-loading analyses. Constraint excursions are treated as model failures rather than an acceptable cost of optimisation.
Getting started
For acid-gas removal units where circulation is held for the worst case. Delivered through OptiStudio as treating decision support. Expert Services can help with data assessment and validation. Advisory and read-only. Does not replace the DCS.
Related for processing
Amine circulation and regeneration sits beside preheat fouling economics and blend quality giveaway on the same processing site.
Amine units often carry circulation margin for sour-gas variability, which raises reboiler steam and pumping power. This use case advises the lowest circulation that still meets treated-gas quality and rich-loading limits for process engineer review.
Feed composition, flow, pressure and temperature; absorber and regenerator conditions; solvent circulation; treated-gas analyser readings; reboiler steam or duty; and routine solvent analyses including rich loading and heat stable salts. No new sensors where those already exist.
No. It is an advisory optimisation layer. Existing DCS control remains responsible for operating the unit. The pilot is read-only; process engineers retain control over every operating change.
No by design. The rich-loading limit is a hard mechanical-integrity constraint. The advice is not designed to trade corrosion margin for energy savings, and any constraint excursion is treated as a model or operating issue requiring investigation.
Through OptiStudio as treating decision support. Expert Services can support data assessment, integration and validation with your process team.
Yes, where the required process and solvent data is available. LNG pretreatment can involve particularly tight treated-gas specifications because acid-gas removal is required before cryogenic processing.
Where rich-loading analysis is infrequent, the soft sensor becomes more valuable but needs more careful validation. Quality and integrity constraints remain hard limits on every recommendation. No plant-specific savings claim is quoted before seeing your train.
Processing · Acid gas removal
A back-test on your own amine train will show where circulation is providing useful absorption margin and where it is simply carrying insurance, with treated-gas specification and rich-loading integrity visible in every recommendation.
