Development and scale-up of an aqueous ethanolamine scrubber for methyl bromide removal

A scrubber system was developed specifically to remove methyl bromide liberated during a demethylation process. On-line mass spectrometry (MS) was implemented and developed as a tool to monitor and quantify the methyl bromide scrubber efficiency during the demethylation reaction for laboratory and pilot-plant campaign runs. The MS technique is relatively simple to interface to existing equipment, requires no direct sample contact, and allows for the sampling from multiple ports. Results of the MS on-line monitoring using ethanolamine for both the laboratory and pilot plant showed scrubber removal efficiency of >99%. In addition to MS, ion chromatography and other gravimetric methods were implemented to confirm the level of methyl bromide consumed by the scrubber.