Effects of Lubricants and the Additives on the Foaming of Desulfurization Solvent

Understanding the effects of industrial lubricating oil and additives on desulfurization solution foaming is very important to both engineers and academic researchers. In this study, the influences of lubricating oil and its additive components on the foaming performance of desulfurization solution were examined, and the empirical model was established to predict the foam height of desulfurization solution containing contaminants. It is established that the additives of dodecenyl succinic acid and zinc dialkyl dithiophosphate have more significant influence on the foaming performance of desulfurization solution than the lubricant base oil. In addition, the effect can be enlarged at lower temperatures. The prediction model of the foaming performance of desulfurization solution was established, and the prediction deviation of the foam height was no more than 7%. The predicted foam height increases with increasing apparent air velocity, solution surface tension, and viscosity, and decreases with increasing solution density and average bubble radius. Additionally, the foam height and defoaming time of the contaminated industrial solution were largely reduced by employing an adsorption purification process using activated carbon as an adsorbent. The present study highlights the quantitative relationship between contaminant contents and foam height, as well as defoaming time.