Shanghai Science and Technology Award: “Development and Industrial Application of Efficient Composite Solvents for High-Sulfur Oil and Gas Purification” Project
At the 2025 Shanghai Science and Technology Conference and the 2025 Shanghai Science and Technology Award Ceremony, ECUST, as the primary completing institution, received a total of 17 awards, including 9 first prizes, 6 second prizes, 1 Youth Outstanding Science and Technology Contribution Award, and 1 International Science and Technology Cooperation Award.
Primary Completing Institution: ECUST
Lead Investigator: Prof. Hui Sun
Award Category: First Prize in Science and Technology Progress
Efficient oil and gas development is critical to energy supply, and desulfurization and purification are key steps in oil and gas production and processing. Focusing on removing organic sulfur effectively, minimizing absorption losses of natural gas, and ensuring stable industrial operation, the project established an innovative paradigm for desulfurization. The main innovations are as follows.
First, the project revealed the physicochemical coupling mechanism of the synergistic and competitive solvent–solute interactions, developed defined molecular descriptors, and constructed a machine learning model that incorporates organic sulfur dissolution mechanisms, enabling intelligent design of solvent molecular compositions. These advances overcame the challenges of desulfurizing high-sulfur natural gas with complex compositions, bringing the technology to an internationally leading level.
Second, based on a modified regular solution theory and two-dimensional solubility parameters, the project established an accurate method for predicting the selectivity factor of composite solvents for organic sulfur over methane, enabling regulation of absorption selectivity. By optimizing solvent composition and process conditions, the project reduced hydrocarbon dissolution losses and improved both the yield of purified product gas and the quality of byproduct sulfur.
Third, the project established a prediction model for the foaming tendency of composite solvents, revealed the influence patterns and mechanisms of impurity components and other factors on foaming tendency, and identified the solvent-induced foaming factors. By regulating surface and interfacial properties, the anti-foaming performance of the solvent was improved, enabling safe and stable operation at relatively high concentrations and reducing regeneration energy consumption.
The project has been applied at the Yuanba Gas Field Purification Plant of Sinopec Southwest Oil & Gas Company, enabling stable production of Class I natural gas and replacing imported desulfurization solvents.
Over the past three years, it has generated an output value of 5.056 billion yuan, profits of 2.11 billion yuan, and tax payments of 804 million yuan, while saving 30.8 million yuan in costs, resulting in direct economic benefits of 2.101 billion yuan. The technology has been extended to more than 30 desulfurization and purification units of various types in enterprises such as Sinopec, generating economic, social, and environmental benefits.