8. Conclusion

Natural gas is a key energy resource, with abundant reserves that can also be used to supply petrochemicals or the gasoline pool, for the heavier compounds. The natural gas market is growing as a result of constantly evolving global energy demand. As in the oil sector, the evolution of resources, towards increasingly acid gases, and the evolution of environmental constraints and therefore of target specifications, lead to constantly evolving processing needs, with technical and economic challenges. Mature technologies remain the operational benchmarks for the treatment chain, but new technologies are being developed to meet these challenges, whether in the field of processes, equipment (contactors, gas and liquid distributors, etc.) or products (solvents, adsorbents, catalysts).

The multiplicity of treatment stages remains unavoidable due to the nature and specificity...