Verifying Triazine Activity
Problem
A customer operating a 1000-gallon contactor tower was experiencing frequent change-outs and poor scavenger performance. Based on expected sulfide levels, a 37% MEA-triazine-based scavenger was chosen with an expectation for monthly chemical replacement. During operation, this system was reaching H2S breakthrough in 16 to 22 days. This mismatch resulted in two extra changeouts per year at an additional cost of $25,000 in chemicals, plus shutdown time and labor. The chemical supplier provided laboratory data demonstrating that a 37% triazine blend would provide 30 days of operating performance based on H2S levels, so the customer began investigating hardware changes, including mixing and sparging. After these changes failed to improve performance, the customer reached out to OndaVia.
Solution
After two minutes of testing, the OndaVia team determined that the 37% blend was 32% MEA-triazine. Although the MEA-triazine blend was called 37%, it was specified as 35% from the toll blender. And due to supply constraints, quality issues, and testing limitations, the toll blender was producing a 32% triazine.
Result
The customer implemented spot testing on all incoming batches of MEA-triazine and required their chemical suppliers to provide an OndaVia Quantitative Raman Spectroscopy-based test report with every batch. The customer has reduced their chemical budget by $25,000, reduced maintenance time, and reduced the chance for asset damage due to by-product buildup.