Kinetic Simulation of Acid Gas (H2S and CO2) Destruction for Simultaneous Syngas and Sulfur Recovery

Examination of the effect of toluene and carbon dioxide accompanying acid gases (mainly H2S) in the sulfur recovery process is very critical to determine the optimum operating temperature for enhanced sulfur recovery. Experimental and simulation were used to quantify the conversion efficiency with the addition of different amounts of toluene and carbon dioxide/toluene mixtures to the H2S gas stream. The results showed similar trends between predictions and experimental data, which revealed a decrease in conversion efficiency with increase in toluene or carbon dioxide/toluene addition to the H2S gas stream in a reactor. Further simulations were carried out to seek for the effect of toluene and CO2 addition to acid gas stream on the more favorable operating temperature of the reactor. The results showed that toluene increases the optimum reactor temperature at which enhanced sulfur recovery occurs, whereas it reduces the optimum operating temperature in the presence of CO2. The presence of toluene and CO2 in the acid gas stream affects the sulfur recovery efficiency by altering the optimum temperature of the reactor. These results reveal the importance of reactor temperature and its excursion on sulfur recovery in a Claus process. The effect of mean reactor temperature and its role on detailed chemical speciation from within the reactor as well as the role of key species formed in the process on sulfur recovery are presented.

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New, Lower-Cost Acid Gas Removal and Sulfur Recovery Technology for Permian Basin Natural Gas Production Operations

10.2118/59712-ms ◽

2000 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Dennis Leppin

Keyword(s):

Natural Gas ◽

Lower Cost ◽

Gas Production ◽

Sulfur Recovery ◽

Permian Basin ◽

Natural Gas Production ◽

Acid Gas ◽

Gas Removal

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A Comparative CFD Simulation Study of Two-Channel and Three-Channel Claus Reactors

Volume 1: Boilers and Heat Recovery Steam Generator; Combustion Turbines; Energy Water Sustainability; Fuels, Combustion and Material Handling; Heat Exchangers, Condensers, Cooling Systems, and Balance-of-Plant ◽

10.1115/power-icope2017-3262 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Shan Huang ◽

Qulan Zhou ◽

Na Li ◽

Fangyong Tian ◽

Lisheng Zhang

Keyword(s):

Hydrogen Sulfide ◽

Channel Model ◽

Flow Fields ◽

Elementary Sulfur ◽

Channel Reactor ◽

Sulfur Recovery ◽

Acid Gas ◽

Gas Channel ◽

Claus Reactor ◽

Air Channel

The Claus reactors is widely used to recover elementary sulfur from hydrogen sulfide that is contained in fresh natural gas. It involves thermal oxidation of hydrogen sulfide and its reaction with sulfur dioxide to form sulfur and water vapor. To improve the efficiency of the process, we built two kinds of 3-dimensional Claus reactor models to explore the key factors that affect the combustion reactions. The two-channel Claus reactor consisted of an air channel and an acid gas channel (60% H2S, 33% CO2, 7%H2O) while the three-channel Claus reactor consisted of two air channels and an acid gas channel (60% H2S, 33% CO2, 7%H2O). The two-channel model was built according to the devices used in the factory while the three-channel model was improved by us from the two-channel model. In both the two models, air and acid gas turned into swirling flow in their channels respectively before their mixture. Then air and acid gas mixed and burned at the throat of the models. The most remarkable difference between the two kinds of Claus reactors was that the three-channel reactor had an additional inner air channel inside the acid gas channel that can be helpful to the mix of the acid gas and air. The second difference was that the two kinds of reactors had different deflectors to swirl in the flow fields. In this study, we compared the flow fields and concentration fields of the two kinds of Claus reactors by using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool. The simulation results indicated that the swirling intensity and the mix intensity played an important role in the combustion reactions. The efficiency of sulfur recovery in Claus reactors increased with an increase of the swirling intensity or the mix intensity. The stronger the swirling intensity or the mix intensity was, the sooner the mixture of air and acid gas reached to the best stoichiometric ratio. The three-channel reactor had a better performance than that of the two-channel reactor due to the additional inner air channel which can strengthen the mix of the acid gas and air from the inside of the acid gas. Moreover, the helix deflectors in the three-channel reactor had a better swirling performance than that of the vane deflectors in the two-channel reactor. From the comparison of the two models, we can obtain a way to improve the process of elementary sulfur recovery in the industry, which can be helpful to reduce pollution emissions and improve economic performance.

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Effect of Preheating Inlet Air and Acid Gas on the Performance of Sulfur Recovery Unit—CFD Simulation and Validation

Forschung im Ingenieurwesen ◽

10.1007/s10010-019-00299-9 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 83 (1) ◽

pp. 81-89 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Pedram Abdoli ◽

Seyed Amin Hosseini ◽

Muhammad Abdul Mujeebu

Keyword(s):

Cfd Simulation ◽

Sulfur Recovery ◽

Acid Gas ◽

Sulfur Recovery Unit ◽

Recovery Unit ◽

Simulation And Validation

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CFD simulation of reactor furnace of sulfur recovery units by considering kinetics of acid gas (H 2 S and CO 2 ) destruction

Applied Thermal Engineering ◽

10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.05.148 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 123 ◽

pp. 699-710 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Bayazid Mahmoodi ◽

Seyyed Hossein Hosseini ◽

Goodarz Ahmadi ◽

Abhijeet Raj

Keyword(s):

Cfd Simulation ◽

Sulfur Recovery ◽

Acid Gas ◽

Kinetics Of

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Numerical study of the burner parameters on the thermal field in a sulfur recovery unit thermal reactor

MATEC Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/matecconf/201816901013 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 169 ◽

pp. 01013

Author(s):

Chun-Lang Yeh

Keyword(s):

High Temperature ◽

Mole Fraction ◽

Thermal Field ◽

Numerical Study ◽

Thermal Reactor ◽

Sulfur Recovery ◽

Acid Gas ◽

Sulfur Recovery Unit ◽

Recovery Unit ◽

Lower Temperature

A sulfur recovery unit (SRU) thermal reactor is the most important equipment in a sulfur plant and is negatively affected by high temperature operations. In this paper, the effect of burner parameters, including the clearance of the acid gas tip and the inlet air swirler angle, on the thermal field in a SRU thermal reactor are investigated numerically, with the aim to reduce the high temperature inside the thermal reactor and to ensure an acceptable sulfur recovery. The simulation results show that the burner with a smaller clearance of the acid gas tip produces a lower temperature, a lower exit SO2 mole fraction and higher exit S2 and H2S mole fractions. Among the clearancs of the acid gas tip investigated, the horizontal clearance of 152.4mm and vertical clearance of 240mm yield the lowest temperature, exit SO2 mole fraction and highest exit S2, H2S mole fractions. The burner with a smaller inlet air swirler angle produces a higher temperature, a higher exit SO2 mole fraction and lower exit S2 and H2S mole fractions. Among the swirler angles investigated, 60° yields the lowest temperature, exit SO2 mole fraction and highest exit S2 , H2S mole fractions.

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