| 摘要 |
In processes for removing mercury vapor from natural gas streams by selective adsorption in fixed adsorbent beds, water is invariably adsorbed along with the mercury impurity. During the periodic purge regeneration of the adsorbent bed it is desirable to recover as much as possible of the desorbed mercury in the spent regeneration gas in liquid form to avoid reintroducing the mercury into the environment. Cooling this spent regeneration gas under the high pressure conditions involved to condense the mercury can result in the highly undesirable formation of hydrocarbon hydrates if temperatures low enough to condense an adequate amount of mercury are employed. In the process of the present invention, the spent regeneration gas stream, from which some mercury has been removed by cooling, is further treated in a desiccant bed so that it is possible to cool it further in order to condense and remove additional mercury without encountering hydrocarbon hydrate formation.
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