Sulfur streams

Reuse of the waste Stretford sulfur stream at a sulfuric acid manufacturer ... 

For leaner sulfur streams, several techniques have been suggested to provide the heat balance. Among them are 1) use of oxygen rather than air for combustion, 2) addition of hydrocarbon or other fuel species to the sulfur burner section to provide heat,... 

Example 2. A European refiner now runs a mild hydrocracker (MHC) to maximize conversion of VGO and to pretreat the feed to its FCC unit. The plant cannot post-treat its FCC gasoline, so the sulfur content of the MHC bottoms must be less than 500 wppm to guarantee that the sulfur content of the FCC gasoline is less than 150 wppm. Other low-sulfur streams (reformate, alkylate and hydrotreated gas oil) go into the final gasoline blend, so sulfur in the FCC gasoline can exceed the final-product limit of 50 wppm. 

The various sulfur streams are processed through a Claus plant for treatment of the more concentrated hydrogen sulfide streams. 

For the refiner, the main problem is to meet the specifications for kinematic viscosity and sulfur content. Dilution by light streams such as home-heating oil and LCO, and selection of feedstocks coming from low-sulfur crude oils give him a measure of flexibility that will nevertheless lead gradually to future restrictions, most notably the new more severe antipollution rules imposing lower limits on sulfur and nitrogen contents. 

Sulfuric acid Air and inert gas streams 0.003-0.008 Indefinite Not feasible... 

The ratio of reactants had to be controlled very closely to suppress these impurities. Recovery of the acrylamide product from the acid process was the most expensive and difficult part of the process. Large scale production depended on two different methods. If soHd crystalline monomer was desired, the acrylamide sulfate was neutralized with ammonia to yield ammonium sulfate. The acrylamide crystallized on cooling, leaving ammonium sulfate, which had to be disposed of in some way. The second method of purification involved ion exclusion (68), which utilized a sulfonic acid ion-exchange resin and produced a dilute solution of acrylamide in water. A dilute sulfuric acid waste stream was again produced, and, in either case, the waste stream represented a... 

Acryflc acid, alcohol, and the catalyst, eg, sulfuric acid, together with the recycle streams are fed to the glass-lined ester reactor fitted with an external reboiler and a distillation column. Acrylate ester, excess alcohol, and water of esterification are taken overhead from the distillation column. The process is operated to give only traces of acryflc acid in the distillate. The bulk of the organic distillate is sent to the wash column for removal of alcohol and acryflc acid a portion is returned to the top of the distillation column. If required, some base may be added during the washing operation to remove traces of acryflc acid. 

The cmde product from the gasifier contains CO2 and H2S, which must be removed before the gas can be used to produce chemicals. The Rectisol process is used to remove these contaminants from the gas. This is accompHshed by scmbbing the product with cold methanol which dissolves the CO2 and H2S and lets the H2 and CO pass through the scmbber. The H2S is sent to a Claus sulfur plant where over 99.7% of the sulfur in the coal feed is recovered in the form of elemental sulfur. A portion of the clean H2 and CO are separated in a cryogenic distillation process. The main product from the cryogenic distillation is a purified CO stream for use in the acetic anhydride process. The remaining CO and hydrogen are used in the methanol plant. 

Gaseous Effluents. Twenty percent of the carbon disulfide used in xanthation is converted into hydrogen sulfide (or equivalents) by the regeneration reactions. Ninety to 95% of this hydrogen sulfide is recoverable by scmbbers that yield sodium hydrogen sulfide for the tanning or pulp industries, or for conversion back to sulfur. Up to 60% of the carbon disulfide is recyclable by condensation from rich streams, but costly carbon-bed... 

Calcium C rbon te. Calcium carbonate, like R2O2, affects sulfuric and oleum consumption in the HF process. Sulfuric acid loss is approximately 0.98% H2SO4 for each percentage of CaCO. The carbon dioxide evolved by the reaction increases the noncondensable gas flow, and because it carries HF, contributes to yield losses in the vent stream. 

In all HF processes, the HF leaves the furnace as a gas, contaminated with small amounts of impurities such as water, sulfuric acid, SO2, or SiF. Various manufacturers utilize different gas handling operations, which generally include scmbbing and cooling. Cmde HF is condensed with refrigerant, and is further purified by distillation (qv). Plant vent gases are scmbbed with the incoming sulfuric acid stream to remove the bulk of the HF. The sulfuric acid is then fed to the furnace. Water or alkah scmbbers remove the remainder of the HF from the plant vent stream. 

Another use is in various extraction and absorption processes for the purification of acetylene or butadiene and for separation of aHphatic hydrocarbons, which have limited solubiHty in DMF, from aromatic hydrocarbons. DMF has also been used to recover CO2 from flue gases. Because of the high solubiHty of SO2 iu DMF, this method can even be used for exhaust streams from processes using high sulfur fuels. The CO2 is not contaminated with sulfur-containing impurities, which are recovered from the DMF in a separate step (29). 

The ratio of hydrogen to carbon monoxide is controlled by shifting only part of the gas stream. After the shift, the carbon dioxide, which is formed in the gasifier and in the water gas reaction, and the sulfur compounds formed during gasification, are removed from the gas. 

The typical SEA process uses a manganese catalyst with a potassium promoter (for solubilization) in a batch reactor. A manganese catalyst increases the relative rate of attack on carbonyl intermediates. Low conversions are followed by recovery and recycle of complex intermediate streams. Acid recovery and purification involve extraction with caustic and heat treatment to further decrease small amounts of impurities (particularly carbonyls). The fatty acids are recovered by freeing with sulfuric acid and, hence, sodium sulfate is a by-product. 

Toxic or malodorous pollutants can be removed from industrial gas streams by reaction with hydrogen peroxide (174,175). Many Hquid-phase methods have been patented for the removal of NO gases (138,142,174,176—178), sulfur dioxide, reduced sulfur compounds, amines (154,171,172), and phenols (169). Other effluent treatments include the reduction of biological oxygen demand (BOD) and COD, color, odor (142,179,180), and chlorine concentration. 

Plant investment and maintenance costs are relatively high for a new iodine plant in the United States or in Japan because of the deep weUs required for brine production and disposal as weU as the corrosive nature of the plant streams. The principal materials cost is for chlorine and for sulfur dioxide, although in the United States the additives used for the brines, such as scale inhibitors and bactericides, also have a considerable influence on costs. 

---