Patent ID: 7824542

Claim:
Process for recovering hydrocarbon compounds co-absorbed in the absorption column of sour gases from industrial gases such as natural gas, using physically acting absorbents, comprising: withdrawing a laden absorbent from the absorption column; increasing the pressure of the laden adsorbent; subsequently feeding the laden absorbent to the head of a stripping column equipped with a bottom reboiler and one or several side boilers and which is operated at a pressure slightly higher than that in the absorption column; obtaining an equilibrium in the stripping column by controlling in a manner that the sour gas concentration of the absorbent increases on its way to the column bottom whereas the concentration of the hydrocarbons declines on their way to the column bottom; withdrawing heated absorbent that has a low hydrocarbon content and is rich in sour gas components from the column bottom and fed to a sour-gas desorption device; withdrawing a recycle gas that is rich in hydrocarbons and has a low content of sour gas components from the head of the stripping column; cooling the recycle gas in a recycle gas cooler to the temperature of the input gas fed to the absorption column and the recycle gas is either fed directly to the absorption column or added to the input gas.