Situation An ethylene producer in northeast China was experiencing poor quality spent caustic in the acid gas removal section of the plant. The caustic was heavily emulsified and had a thick orange oil layer on top of the milky bulk liquid. The caustic tower was treated with a red-oil inhibitor from a domestic supplier. Approach Problems of this nature are typically caused by the presence of aldehydes in the cracked gas feed to the tower. Acetald

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