LPG Sweetening & Olefins Recovery

Select an application

Liquid LPG products from Atmospheric Distillation, Hydroprocessing, FCC, Visbreaking, Coking are valuable as commercial products, alkylation and oligomerization feedstock and for petrochemical applications.

Sulfur compound impurities in liquid LPG are mainly mercaptans (RSH), hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) and carbonyl sulfide (COS):

To reduce total sulfur content, an Extractive Sulfur Removal process which eliminates H₂S in a first step and extracts mercaptans (RSH) in a second step is an ideal solution to meet the minimum total sulfur specification.
To meet stringent copper strip corrosive specifications, an LPG sweetening step which converts acidic sulfur compounds into less aggressive disulfides will be an acceptable low investment alternative to pass the copper strip test and to protect downstream equipment.

Process Technologies

Sulfrex™

The extractive Sulfrex™ process eliminates mercaptans and reduces the total sulfur concentration. With its mild operating conditions of pressure and ambient temperature, this continuous process is ideal for C₃, C₄, LPG, light gasoline and NGL feeds.

Sulfrex™ covers several configurations:

Olefinic LPG ex FCC, Coker and Visbreaking
Non Olefinic LPG on saturated distillations columns, or from hydrotreating units
Gas field NGL

Axens does not impose any proprietary equipment as extractor trays, mixers, filters, contactors, coalescers and oxidizer internals. This results in a lower initial unit cost and also a lower maintenance cost when replacing such equipment.

80 awarded projects among which 40 projects using this technology these last ten years

Maximizing the use of different caustic strengths

Minimizing the caustic and catalyst consumption

Commercial Bulletin

Related Offer

Modular Unit

Catalysts & Grading Materials

Catalysts

Sweetening Catalysts

For the sweetening of liquid hydrocarbons Axens offers catalysts using sulfonated cobalt phthalocyanine as the active material.

Adsorbents

Arsine Removal Adsorbents

The poisonous effects of arsine and other metal hydrides on hydrogenation and polymerization catalysts is well documented. By far the most common, arsine can seriously deactivate the high-activity Ziegler Natta, metallocene and noble metal catalysts used for processing cracked light ends.

Adsorbents

Drying Series Adsorbents

Water removal applications are widely encountered in the industry sector. Activated alumina and molecular sieves stand at the forefront of the several different materials available on the market.

Adsorbents

Mercury Removal Adsorbents

Mercury removal from hydrocarbons is crucial due to HSE-related issues, corrosion problems and downstream catalyst poisoning.

Adsorbents

Purification Series Adsorbents

Material specially developed to achieve your feedstock’s specification requirements.

Adsorbents

Sulfur Removal Adsorbents for Oil, Gas & Petrochemicals

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), COS, mercaptans or sulfides are common contaminants that must be removed from various gases and liquids such as natural gas, NGLs, LPGs, cracked gases, olefins or biogas.

Consulting, Studies & Audits

Axens offers a customized approach, including tailored studies, audits and consulting services, covering technical and operational challenges.

Unit Revamps & Retrofits

You face many challenges, which include operating in a safe, reliable and environmentally sound manner while responding to changing markets dynamics.

Modular Units

A modularization strategy offers superior benefits versus on-site manufacturing. During the last 40 years, Axens has supplied over 500 modular units, both onshore and offshore, providing tailor-made designs according to client project specifications.

Customer Training

Designed for all Axens technologies, dedicated to operators & engineers, Axens offers customized training solutions to all our licensees, covering the whole range of Axens technologies.

Technical Support & Performance Management

Axens is fully committed to be your partner and provide assistance and support during your project lifecycle, from conception to start-up & running operations.

PRU (Propylene Recovery Unit)

Axens Propylene Recovery Unit (PRU) processes LPGs that typically come from FCC or Coker units to produce a stream of high purity propylene suitable for petrochemical applications. Additional complex refinery or petrochemical purge streams containing propylene may also be treated.

The design is customized in order to fulfill the required propylene specifications, frequently chemical, chemical high purity or polymer grades or even custom specifications, with purities of up to 99.8 wt%.

Propylene impurities such as water, sulfur compounds, phosphine or arsine are removed through the use of specific Axens’ adsorbents (AxSorb® and AxTrap™), involving fully automated regeneration if necessary.

Simple solution

Leveraging Axens’ expertise in promoted aluminas for purification

Thermal integration possible

Adsorbents

Arsine Removal Adsorbents

Adsorbents

Mercury Removal Adsorbents

Mercury removal from hydrocarbons is crucial due to HSE-related issues, corrosion problems and downstream catalyst poisoning.

Adsorbents

Purification Series Adsorbents

Material specially developed to achieve your feedstock’s specification requirements.

Adsorbents

Sulfur Removal Adsorbents for Oil, Gas & Petrochemicals

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), COS, mercaptans or sulfides are common contaminants that must be removed from various gases and liquids such as natural gas, NGLs, LPGs, cracked gases, olefins or biogas.

Consulting, Studies & Audits

Axens offers a customized approach, including tailored studies, audits and consulting services, covering technical and operational challenges.

Technical Support & Performance Management

Axens is fully committed to be your partner and provide assistance and support during your project lifecycle, from conception to start-up & running operations.

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2026 AFPM Summit

The Summit delivers world-class technical sessions dedicated to improving plant-wide performance in the refining and petrochemical industries. Join and network with dedicated industry subject matter experts in Grapevine to discover the latest strategies and emerging innovations, and find immediate solutions to implement at the site level. With over 70 sessions, we guarantee to deliver the curriculum you need to succeed.