Dispersant of saline deposits in hydrocarbon process plants
Use of diaminopropanes, or of a composition thereof as a dispersing agent to prevent the formation or remove already formed deposits of ammonium salt in hydrocarbon process plants, such as petrochemical or refinery plants.
1. A method of preventing the formation of and removing already formed deposits of ammonium salts, amine salts or mixtures of ammonium salts and amine salts in a hydrocarbon process plant consisting of
introducing into said plant as the sole agent to prevent the formation of and to remove already formed deposits of ammonium and/or amine salts and/or their mixtures an N-alkyl-1,3-diaminopropane of formula
R—NH—(CH 2 ) 3 —NH 2 (1)
where R represents a straight C 8 through C 18 alkyl chain,
in a dispersing quantity sufficient to prevent the formation of said deposits, if not present, and to remove said deposits, if present.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said N-alkyl-1,3-diaminopropane is N-coco-1,3-diaminopropane.
3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said ammonium salt is an ammonium halogenide and said amine salts are amine halogenides.
4. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein said ammonium salt is ammonium chloride and said amine salts are amine chlorides.
5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said plant is an atmospheric hydrocarbon distillation plant, a fluid bed catalytic cracking (FCC) plant, a sour water stripper (SWS) plant, a gasoline desulphuring plant (Unifining), or a hydrogen desulphuration system (HDS).
6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein, in case of deposits removal, a molar ratio between said dispersing quantity and said deposits is less than one.