
Small-scale sulphur recovery
Small quantities of sulphur in a refinery or gas feed can present challenges for conventional large scale sulphur recovery techniques.
Small quantities of sulphur in a refinery or gas feed can present challenges for conventional large scale sulphur recovery techniques.
Arianne Phosphate says that Mark Edinger will be joining the company as an advisor. Edinger is a 15-year veteran of Nutrien Ltd. and its predecessor (Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan) having most recently served as Director of Phosphate Commercial and Product Management Teams, with responsibility for the global marketing of Nutrien’s phosphate product lines.
Honeywell UOP’s nViro Hydro process provides an alternative solution to conventional hydroprocessing waste treatment utilising a sulphur recovery unit and tail gas treating unit. Janet Ruettiger of Honeywell UOP discusses the benefits of nViro Hydro which include improved operational efficiency, creating a new revenue stream and reduced capital outlays, operating expenses and water use.
Following the completion of expansion work on the ultra-sour gas Shah field in May 2023, production has been ramped up. Occidental, which owns 40% of the Shah project and which operates the field in conjunction with ADONC Sour Gas, reported in July that it had achieved record output at Shah, with gross gas sales reaching 722 million scfd in Q2 2023 (equivalent to 1.1 billion scf/d of raw gas, which is 23% H2S and 10% CO 2 ). The expansion has taken processing capacity at Shah to 1.45 billion scf/d and forms part of the UAE’s plans to achieve gas self-sufficiency by the end of the decade. The expansion was conducted by Saipem, who were awarded a $510 million contract in 2021 to expand output from 1.3 billion scf/d to the current 1.45 billion scf/d. Work was completed two months ahead of schedule, according to Occidental.
With the aid of a rigorous kinetic model for TGU hydrogenation reactors, incorporating catalyst deactivation mechanisms, designers and operators can forecast the life expectancy of reactor catalyst beds.
Comprimo and Ametek now offer the Analyser Air Control Technology (2ACT) Solution to the industry in which the information for the SRU air control is available 6-7 minutes earlier with the installation of an acid gas feed analyser-based feed forward control. This improvement to conventional SRU combustion air control systems enables operating companies to control their assets closer to design capacity at higher recovery efficiency and with fewer unscheduled outages.
The possible failure of refractory in a Claus unit is a concern to both licensors and operators of Claus units. Bob Poteet of WIKA discusses a novel and easy way to monitor the shell temperature of the Claus thermal reactor using proven technology and highlights the benefits a purge-less thermocouple system for high temperature measurement.
Debopam Chaudhuri of Fluor Daniel India Pvt Ltd and Michiel Baerends of Fluor B.V. Netherlands investigate how SO2 impacts the Claus furnace temperature in an SRU and the ways to mitigate it. This article studies the extent of quenching experienced in the Claus furnace with varying amounts of SO2 in the Claus feed. A case study is presented based on real operating data of a refinery Claus plant with a feed gas cocktail that includes substantial SO2 recovered from a regenerative flue gas desulphurisation unit.
The modern sulphur industry is in effect a response to the environmental problems created by the presence of sulphur compounds in oil and gas, and the consequent release of sulphur dioxide when they are burned. The tens of millions of tonnes extracted, formed, traded and used for sulphuric acid production every year would otherwise be entering the atmosphere and causing health issues, especially in major cities, or returning as acid rain. One of the most recent step changes in sulphur recovery has come from the extension of rules on sulphur content of fuels that have been commonplace for road vehicles for many years into the maritime transport sphere. The International Maritime Organisation has mandated a reduction in sulphur content of bunker fuels to 0.5% worldwide, and 0.1% in busy shipping regions that have become designated emissions control areas (ECAs). Because bunker fuels were made from refinery residues, they often had high concentrations of sulphur in them; the limit before 2020 was 3.5%. As a result, a recent paper by two climate scientists calculates that global SO2 emissions have dropped by as much as 10% since 2020 because of the IMO limits. Given that atmospheric sulphur dioxide is responsible for an estimated 20-90,000 preventable deaths per year, this is surely a good thing.
Kazakhstan’s oil and condensate output increased by 7% from 1.79 million bbl/d to 1.92 million bbl/d in early June after sour gas reinjection operations resumed at the Kashagan offshore oil and gas development following a recent outage, according to the Kazkah Energy Ministry. Reinjection of sour gas into two wells resumed on 8th June, enabling operator the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) to boost oil and condensate production at a large artificial island in Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea waters. Reinjection was paused on May 20th following the detection of sour gas during routine sampling and a subsequent integrity test. Kashagan normally produces about 300,000 barrels of oil per day. Kazakhstan expects Kashsgan to raise oil production this year to 18.2 million t/a from 12.7 million t/a in 2022.