Patent 7435338 was granted and assigned to Johnson Matthey PLC on October, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The invention is a process for removing mercury compounds from a glycol- or alcohol-containing liquid absorbent stream which contains mercury compounds, especially a glycol stream which has been used in a glycol drying plant for removing water from natural gas streams. The process comprises contacting the mercury-laden liquid absorbent stream with a bed of solid absorbent particles, comprising a sulphided metal, optionally supported on support material, or sulphur supported on carbon.