Egyptian Journal of Petroleum (2016) 25, 75–78

H O S T E D BY
Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute

Egyptian Journal of Petroleum

www.elsevier.com/locate/egyjp
www.sciencedirect.com

FULL LENGTH ARTICLE

Optimum injection dose rate of hydrogen sulfide

scavenger for treatment of petroleum crude oil
T.M. Elshiekh *, H.A. Elmawgoud, S.A. Khalil, A.M. Alsabagh

Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute, Egypt

Received 5 February 2015; revised 27 February 2015; accepted 8 March 2015

Available online 17 March 2016

KEYWORDS Abstract Hydrogen sulfide H2S scavengers are chemicals that favorably react with hydrogen sul-
Optimization; fide gas to eliminate it and produce environmental friendly products. These products depend on the
Hydrogen sulfide removal; type and composition of the scavenger and the conditions at which the reaction takes place. The
H2S scavengers; scavenger should be widely available and economical for industry acceptance by having a low unit
Injection dose rate cost. The optimum values of H2S scavenger injection dose rate of scavenging hydrogen sulfide from
the multiphase fluid produced at different wells conditions in one of the Petroleum Companies in
Egypt were studied. The optimum values of H2S scavenger injection dose rate depend on pipe diam-
eter, pipe length, gas molar mass velocity, inlet H2S concentration and pressure. The optimization
results are obtained for different values of these parameters using the software program Lingo. In
general, the optimum values of H2S scavenger injection dose rate of the scavenging of hydrogen sul-
fide are increased by increasing of the pipe diameter and increasing the inlet H2S concentration, and
decreased by increasing the pipe length, gas molar mass velocity and pressure.
Ó 2015 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute. This
is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/
4.0/).

1. Introduction The hydrogen sulfide content of fluids in the permeable for-

mations of oil wells has an important impact on the economic
Hydrogen sulfide is a colorless gas, with an offensive odor and value of the produced hydrocarbons and production opera-
a sweetish taste. It is soluble in water, alcohol, oils, and many tions [1,2]. Typically, the sulfur content of crude oils is in the
other solvents. It has specific gravity of 1.1895 with reference range of 0.3–0.8 wt% and the hydrogen sulfide content of nat-
to air. It is considered a weak acid; it is toxic to humans and ural gas is in the range of 0.01–0.4 wt%, although concentra-
corrosive to metals. Hydrogen sulfide can be dangerous to per- tions of hydrogen sulfide in natural gas of up to 30 wt%
sonnel on the surface as it is extremely toxic to human and have been reported. Several recent reports have claimed a sys-
even animal life, and is extremely corrosive to most metals as tematic increase in the sulfur content of crude oils over the past
it can cause cracking of drill pipe and tubular goods, and 10–20 years and anticipate further significant increases in the
destruction of testing tools and wire lines. concentration of hydrogen sulfide in both oil and natural gas
[3,4]. The correlation between the hydrogen sulfide
* Corresponding author.
concentration of produced hydrocarbons from the Norwegian
continental shelf and the reservoir temperature; above about
Peer review under responsibility of Egyptian Petroleum Research
110 °C indicates that the hydrogen sulfide content of produced
Institute.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpe.2015.03.015
1110-0621 Ó 2015 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
76 T.M. Elshiekh et al.

hydrocarbons increases exponentially with temperature, while 1800 6 Gv 6 33,000.

below this temperature the hydrogen sulfide concentration is 10 6 Z 6 1000.
negligible [5–7]. 2 6 D 6 10.
The souring of petroleum reservoirs caused mainly by
sulfate-reducing bacteria can increase the concentration of
hydrogen sulfide in produced fluids to the point of making it 3. Results and discussion
necessary to inject expensive chemical scavengers in produc-
tion pipelines so that the corrosion and operational risks can The optimum value of H2S scavenger injection dose rate as in
be minimized [8–10]. In-line scavenging of hydrogen sulfide is the empirical equation (1) is a function of the factors; pipe
the preferred method for production of crude oil containing length, pipe diameter, gas molar mass velocity, inlet concentra-
low hydrogen sulfide levels from subsea wells, especially where tion of H2S and pressure. The optimization results of the effec-
the well is tied back via a flowline to a host facility at which tive parameters on the optimum value of H2S scavenger
there is no provision for H2S scavenging and/or where H2S injection dose rate are studied in the following section.
removal facility is too expensive and/or impractical to install
[11]. 3.1. Optimum H2sscavenger injection dose rate at different pipe
As a result of this method, the hydrogen sulfide content of diameters
the crude oil that is delivered to the platform is reduced to safe
and commercially acceptable levels and reaction by-product
formation is manageable. The formation water provides a car- Table 2 shows the optimum values of H2S scavenger injection
rier phase for some of the reaction products and enhances the dose rate at different values of pipe diameters. At pipe diame-
dispersion of some insoluble reaction products in the copro- ters equal to 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 in., the optimum H2S scavenger
duced aqueous phase [12,13]. This study focuses on the estima- injection dose rate is equal to 66.78924, 132.7479, 198.39,
tion of the optimum value of H2S scavenger injection dose rate 263.8448 and 329.144 liter per day, respectively. At these pipe
according to the available wells’ field data obtained from an diameter values the optimum values of pressure, H2S inlet,
existing oil well in Petrobel Petroleum Company in Egypt as pipe lengths ft, H2S outlet and gas molar mass velocity,
in Table 1. (lb mol/(h ft2)) are 600 psig, 6000 ppmv, 1000 ft, 10 ppmv
and 33,000 lb mol/(h ft2) respectively.
In general, the estimated results show that the effect of pipe
2. Objective function and constraints
diameter had a marked effect, increasing the pipe diameter
caused an increase of the optimum value of H2S scavenger
The following empirical equation (1) is used as the objective injection dose rate due to reduction of gas velocity and turbu-
function to obtain the optimum H2S scavenger injection dose lence and hence, absence of good mixing between the scav-
rate using the software program Lingo [14–16]. enger and the crude.
" #1=C3
ln yyout
in
GV
RJ ¼ ð1Þ 3.2. Optimum value of H2s scavenger injection dose rate at
C1 GCV2 DC4 PZ different pipe lengths
where
RJ = H2S scavenger dose injection rate, l/day. Table 3 shows the optimum values of H2S scavenger injection
yin = inlet H2S concentration, ppmv. dose rate at different pipe lengths (distance from the down-
yout = outlet H2S concentration, ppmv. stream of the injection point). At pipe lengths equal to 10,
GV = gas molar mass velocity, lb mol/(h ft2). 300, 500, 700, 1000 ft the output results of optimum value of
D = pipe diameter, in. H2S scavenger injection dose rate are equal to 890.3605,
P = pressure, psig. 258.7447, 145.6542, 99.75838 and 66.78924 liter per day,
Z = pipe length, ft and respectively, while the optimum values of pressure 600 psig,
C1, C2, C3, C4 = regression coefficients constant. H2S inlet 6000 ppmv, pipe diameter 2 in. ft, H2S outlet
10 ppmv and gas molar mass velocity, lb mol/(h ft2) 33,000
Constraints do not change at these pipe lengths values. Consequently, by
100 6 P 6 600. increasing the pipe length the optimum value of H2S scavenger
100 6 yin 6 6000. injection dose rate will be decreased due to the increase in
retention time of reaction.

Table 1 Well fields’ production condition at petrobel Petroleum Company in Egypt for (Wells No. 113–173, 113–188, 113–104, 113–
142 and 113–124).
Item Well No.
113–173 113–188 113–104 113–142 113–124
Net Prod. bbl/d 1295 1687 136.35 605 85.2
Pressure, psi 110 150 400 180 120
Temp. °C 40–50 40–50 50–55 50–55 50–55
H2S blank, ppmv 6000 12,000 1700 1600 200
Pipe diameter, in. 4 4 4 4 2
Retention time, h 2.5 3 3 3 2
Optimum injection dose rate of hydrogen sulfide scavenger 77

Table 2 Optimum value of H2S scavenger injection dose rate at different pipe diameters.
Diameter, Optimum dose rate, Optimum gas molar mass velocity, Optimum Optimum Optimum H2S inlet
in. l/day lb mol/(h ft2) length, ft pressure, psig concn., ppm
2 66.78924 33,000 1000 600 6000
4 132.7479 33,000 1000 600 6000
6 198.39 33,000 1000 600 6000
8 263.8448 33,000 1000 600 6000
10 329.1444 33,000 1000 600 6000

Table 3 Optimum values of injection dose rate at different pipe length.

Pipe length, ft Optimum dose Optimum Optimum gas molar Optimum Optimum H2S inlet
rate l/day diameter, in. mass vel., lb mol/(h ft2) pressure, psig concn., ppm
100 890.3605 2 33,000 600 6000
300 258.7447 2 33,000 600 6000
500 145.6542 2 33,000 600 6000
700 99.75838 2 33,000 600 6000
1000 66.78924 2 33,000 600 6000

3.3. Optimum H2s scavenger injection dose rate at different gas dose rate are equal to 12.47203, 38.41228, 46.14875, 64.65181,
molar mass velocities, lb mol/(h ft2) 72.81784, 81.087, 85.9685 and 177.7895 liter per day
respectively.
Table 4 shows the optimum values of H2S scavenger injection The estimated results show that the effect of inlet concen-
dose rate at different gas molar mass velocities, lb mol/(h ft2). trations of H2S in oil, water and gas ppmv had a marked effect
At gas molar mass velocity equal to 5000, 10,000, 15,000, on the optimum value of H2S scavenger injection dose rate,
20,000, 25,000 (lb mol/(h ft2) the output results of optimum increasing the inlet H2S concentration caused an increased
value of H2S scavenger injection dose rate are equal to the optimum value of H2S scavenger injection dose rate
2428.2, 1047.5, 640.5, 451.8 and 344.7 liter per day, because it is desired to reduce it to a minimum value below
respectively. 10 ppmv before processing.
While the optimum values of pressure 600 psig, H2S inlet
6000 ppmv, pipe diameter 2 in. ft, H2S outlet 10 ppmv and 3.5. Optimum value of H2s scavenger injection dose rate at
pipe length 1000 ft, are not changed at these gas molar mass different pressures
velocity values consequently, by increasing the gas molar mass
velocity the optimum value of H2S scavenger injection dose Table 6 shows the optimum values of H2S scavenger injection
rate will be decreased due to the increase in retention time of dose rate at different pressures. The effect of different pres-
reaction. sures on the optimum values of H2S scavenger injection dose
rate is estimated. When the pressures are 100, 150, 250, 400,
3.4. Optimum H2s scavenger injection dose rate at different inlet 500 and 500 psig, the optimum values of H2S scavenger injec-
concentration of H2S tion dose rate are 996.18, 631.33, 355.39, 209.46, 162.9654,
132.7479 l/day respectively. On the other hand when the pres-
Table 5 shows the optimum values of H2S scavenger injection sure 100, 400, 600 psig the optimum length are 1000, 811.72
dose rate at different values of inlet concentrations of H2S in and 702.67 respectively this means when the pressure increase
oil, water and gas ppmv. At inlet H2S concentration equal to the optimum length is decreased. In general by increasing the
100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 and 40,000 ppmv pressure the optimum values of H2S scavenger injection dose
the output results of optimum value of H2S scavenger injection rate will be decreased due to increasing of gas velocity and tur-

Table 4 Optimum value of H2S scavenger injection dose rate at different gas molar mass velocity, lb mol/(h ft2).
Gas molar mass velocity, Optimum dose rate, Optimum Optimum Optimum Optimum H2S inlet
lb mol/(h ft2) l/day diameter, in. length, ft pressure, psig concn., ppm
5000 2428.2 2 1000 600 6000
10,000 1047.5 2 1000 600 6000
15,000 640.5 2 1000 600 6000
20,000 451.8 2 1000 600 6000
25,000 344.7 2 1000 600 6000
78 T.M. Elshiekh et al.

Table 5 Optimum value of H2S scavenger injection dose rate at different concentrations of H2S inlet ppmv.
H2S inlet concn., Optimum dose rate, Optimum gas molar mass velocity, Optimum Optimum Optimum pressure,
ppm l/day lb mol/(h ft2) length, ft diameter, in. psig
100 12.47203 33,000 1000 2 600
500 38.41 33,000 1000 2 600
1000 46.14875 33,000 1000 2 600
5000 64.65181 33,000 1000 2 600
10,000 72.81784 33,000 1000 2 600
20,000 81.087 33,000 1000 2 600
30,000 85.9685 33,000 1000 2 600
40,000 177.7895 33,000 1000 2 600

Table 6 Optimum value of H2S scavenger injection dose rate at different pressures.
Pressure, Optimum dose rate, Optimum gas molar mass vel., Optimum Optimum Optimum H2S inlet
psig l/day lb mol/(h ft2) length, ft diameter, in. concn., ppm
100 996.1811 33,000 1000 2 6000
150 631.335 33,000 1000 2 6000
250 355.39 33,000 1000 2 6000
400 209.4621 33,000 1000 2 6000
500 162.9654 33,000 1000 2 6000
600 132.7479 33,000 1000 2 6000

bulence and hence, good mixing between the scavenger and the and gas drilling fluids (Unpublished MSc thesis), Ahmadu Bello
crude. University, Zaria, Nigeria, 2009.
[3] L.L. Carney, B. Jones, SPE J. 5198 (1974) 115–117.
[4] D.R. Carter, N.J. Adams, Symposium on Deep Drilling and
4. Conclusions
Production, Texas, SPE J. (1979) 125–128.
[5] L.K. Charles, L.B. John, W.P. Martin, SPE J. 11749 (1985)
The optimum value of H2S scavenger injection dose rate for (1985) 647.
scavenging hydrogen sulfide gas from the multiphase fluid pro- [6] DHEN (NIOSH), Occupational Exposure to Hydrogen
duced at the available wells field data in one of the Petroleum Sulphide, Publication No. 77-158, May 1977, p. 61.
Companies in Egypt at different conditions was studied using [7] G.J. Nagl, Chem. Eng. 108 (7) (2001) 97–100.
the software program Lingo. From the previous results it is [8] G.B. Farquhar, Corros. Prev. Contr. 45 (2) (1998) 51–56.
[9] K.S. Fisher, D. Leppin, R. Palla, A. Jamal, GasTIPS 9 (2) (2003)
found the initial concentration of H2S in the crude mixture
12.
ranges from 200 to 6000 ppmv and it is desired to reduce it [10] A.M. Alsabagh, S.A. Khalil, Preparation of Dimer N, N.D.,
to a minimum value below 10 ppmv before processing. Diethylene N. methylene amine and its derivatives for
The optimum value of H2S scavenger injection dose rate scavenging H2S gas from crude oil, Egyptian patent No.
depends on pipe diameter, pipe length, gas molar mass veloc- 24558, 2009.
ity, inlet H2S concentration and pressure. The effect difference [11] A.M. Alsabagh, S.A. Khalil, Preparation of new olygemer
of these parameters on the H2S scavenger injection dose rate surfactants from triazinan tri ethanol to scavenger hydrogen
was studied. The optimum values of H2S scavenger injection sulfide accompanied by crude oil and natural gas, Egyptian
dose rate of the scavenging process of hydrogen sulfide are patent No. 25998, 2012.
increased by increasing of the pipe diameter and increasing [12] A.M. Alsabagh et al, Hydrogen Sulfide Management in
Petroleum Industry, LAP LAMBERT Academic publishing,
the inlet H2S concentration, and are decreased by increasing
2014.
the pipe length, gas molar mass velocity and pressure. [13] A.Y. Al-Humaidan, H.A. Nasr-El-SPE Paper, International
Symposium on Oilfield Chemistry, Texas, February 16–19, 1999,
References p. 2.
[14] H.A. Elmawgoud, T.M. Elshiekh, S.A. Khalil, A.M. Alsabagh,
[1] A.G. Alan, P.A. Read, R.D. Wilson, Evaluation and field Egypt. J. Petrol. 24 (2) (2015) 131–137.
application of a new hydrogen sulphide scavenger, in: 10th Int’l [15] H.A. Elmawgoud, T.M. Elshiekh, S.A. Khalil, A.M. Alsabagh,
Oilfield Chemical Symposium, Norway, March 1–3, 1999, pp. Egypt. J. Petrol. 24 (4) (2015) 469–474.
1–4. [16] LINDO Systems Inc. 1415 N, Software Program Lingo version
[2] M.K. Amosa, Comparative analysis of hydrogen sulphide 13.0.2.17, Dayton St. Chicago, Illinois 60642 (312) 988-7422, 15
scavenging effects of ferrous gluconate and magnetite in oil April 2011.