ONGC ties up with IIT Bombay to develop gas sweetening process

Indian state-owned energy company ONGC’s Uran plant in Navi Mumbai has signed a research and development agreement with the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB) to develop a gas sweetening process using nano-fluids, the company said on May 3.

The project aims to use nano-fluids in the amine solvent of the gas sweetening unit (GSU) to reduce the amount of solution required for absorption, thereby resulting in significant savings of material and steam.

The gas sweetening process is crucial for the Uran plant, which receives natural gas from the Arabian Sea, ONGC said.

The typical process involves the sweetening of natural gas in gas sweetening units (GSU) before sending it to LPG units. This process entails the reaction of tertiary amine solvent with natural gas, which leads to a lot of energy consumption.

“The ONGC-IITB partnership will pave the path to carry out experiments on absorption and desorption in an integrated manner with the potential to significantly reduce energy consumption, and save on material, energy and steam, resulting in cost-effective benefits for the plant operations,” the company said.