Haldor Topse

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Haldor Topse A/S
Established: 1940
Ownership: Haldor Topse Holding A/S (100%)
Annual turnover: ~ 700 MM EUR
Number of employees: ~ 2,050
Offices worldwide
Headquarters
City of Topse office
Research
Production
Engineering
Sale & Marketing
Copenhagen
Moscow
Beijing
Tokyo
Bahrain
New Delhi
Buenos Aires
Los Angeles
Houston
Business areas
Fertilizer industry
The chemical and petrochemical industries
The refining industry
The environmental and power sector
Topses business philosophy
To develop and commercialize technology and catalyst
through fundamental understanding of surface chemistry
and physics (heterogeneous catalysis)
To strive to be second to non supplier of catalysts and
technology
To be a global player within heterogeneous catalysts
Topse R&D
60+ years of research in
catalysts and technologies
Study of catalytic reactions
at atomic level
Sophisticated kinetic models
Activity and performance
prediction
Topse annually applies
10% of gross revenues to
support these R&D efforts
Client
Client
A typical project relation with Topse
Topse offers single source know-how combining
catalyst, process and engineering
Technology
licensing
Research
and
development
Engineering
Catalysts
Sulphur 2009 Sun City
Helge Rosenberg
WSA-DC next generation Topse WSA technology
for stronger SO
2
gases and very high conversion
Topse milestones for H
2
SO
4
technology
Late1970s
WSA technology
was developed
and commercialized
1980
First commercial
WSA plant in operation
1991
First SNOX plant
in operation
Ongoing improvement
and development of
WSA and VK catalysts
2008
WSA plant
No. 80
2008/9
WSA-DC
introduced
WSA = Wet (gas) Sulphuric Acid
Technology
Reduces sulphur compunds from process and off-gases
by more than 99.6%
Generates only one end product (H
2
SO
4
)
Treats the off-gas in wet condition i.e. no drying is
required
Principles of the WSA Process
Hot combustion air
Acid
cooling
Product
acid
Cooling
water
SO
2
conversion
Gas
cooling
Acid
conden-
sation.
H
2
S rich
feed
Incineration
H
2
SO
4
(gas) = H
2
SO
4
(liquid) + 90 kJ/mole
HP superheated steam
Atmospheric air Cooling
water return
Clean process
gas to stack
H
2
S + 1.5 O
2
= H
2
O + SO
2
+ 518 kJ/mole
Combustion
Combustion
SO
2
+ O
2
= SO
3
+ 99 kJ/mole
Oxidation
Oxidation
Hydration
Hydration
SO
3
+ H
2
O = H
2
SO
4
(gas) + 101 kJ/mole
Condensation
Condensation
Totally 808 kJ heat per mole of H
2
S is generated
Approx. 90% heat is recovered as steam or hot air
and less than 10% is discharged by CW
WSA process is autothermal from SO
2
concentrations above 3% at inlet SO
2
converter
WSA technology
Combustor
Waste heat
boiler
Steam drum
Combustion
air blower
SO
2
converter
WSA
condenser
Cooling
air blower
Acid
vessel
Acid
pump
Acid
cooler
Process
gas cooler
1st and
2nd
interbed
coolers
BFW
H
2
S gas
Fuel gas
for start-up
Export steam
Cleaned gas
Sulphuric
acid
product
CW
Stack
Combustion air
SO
2
converter details
400- 420C
400 - 420C
400 - 420C
265 - 290C
Catalyst Layer
Interbed Cooler
Off-gas with
H
2
SO
4
(gas)
Off-gas
with SO
2
Cooling air inlet
Clean gas outlet
Hot air outlet
WSA condenser details
Sulphuric acid
Acid gas inlet
WSA plant lay-out
WSA Plant (China)
Specifications:
70% H
2
S
10% HCN
65 MTPD H
2
SO
4
WSA plants status of today
Reference situation:
81 reference plants within oil refining, metallurgical,
gasification, coking, power generation etc.
Up to 1,200,000 Nm
3
/hr gas and 1,140 MTPD H
2
SO
4
Performance:
SO
2
concentration up to 6.5%
99.6% conversion
H
2
SO
4
concentration limited to 98%
High energy efficiency
High energy
efficiency
WSA vs. conventional DCDA
Conventional DCDA plant
SO
2
GAS
FROM SCRUBBER
DRYING ABSORPTION
ABSORPTION
H
2
SO
4
HEAT
LOSS
CONVERSION
HEAT
EXPORT
HEAT
LOSS
HEAT
LOSS
CONVERSION
HEAT
EXPORT
High conversion (> 99.9%)
Medium energy efficiency
WSA plant
H
2
SO
4
SO
2
GAS
FROM
SCRUBBER
CONDENSATION CONVERSION
Medium conversion (< 99.6%)
High energy efficiency
HEAT
EXPORT
HEAT
EXPORT
How do we achieve both high conversion
and
high energy efficiency?
Double conversion gives high conversion efficiency
Condensation gives high energy efficiency
H
2
O/SO
2
ratio balanced for 99% acid concentration
WSA-DC is capable of handling SO
2
concentrations up to
13-15 vol.%
The new Topse WSA-DC technology
SO
2
GAS
H
2
SO
4
HEAT
EXPORT
HEAT
EXPORT
CONDENSATION CONDENSATION
CONVERSION
HEAT
EXPORT
CONVERSION
HEAT
EXPORT
High conversion
High energy efficiency
WSA-DC is a wet gas sulphuric acid process with double
conversion and double condensation, combining the
features of todays WSA technology with conventional
sulphuric acid technology.
WSA-DC process layout, SO
2
feed
CW
Sulphuric acid
Water
SO
2
Gas
SO
2
Converter
(3+1 beds)
1
st
WSA
Condenser
2
nd
WSA
Condenser
Clean gas
BFW
Heat
recovery
steam
system
HP export steam
Air
Air
WSA-DC - comparing features
Steam export,
ton per ton acid*
Acid concentration, wt.%
SO
3
emission, ppmv
SO
2
emission, ppmv
SO
2
conversion, %
SO
2
content, vol.-%
WSA-DC DCDA WSA
*) Sulphur-based plant, saturated steam
6.5
99.6
260
10
98
1.9
13
99.95
65
5
99
1.9
13
99.92
100
5
99+
1.4
Acid production cost comparison
0.50 /m
3
Process water consumption
0.03 /m
3
Cooling water consumption
Production costs per
ton of H
2
SO
4
,
Annual costs (8,000 hrs/y)
8 /t HP steam production
0.05 /kWh Electricity consumption
40 /t Sulphur consumption
Annual
costs

Consumption
&
Production
per hour
Annual
costs

Consumption
&
Production
per hour
DCDA WSA-DC Unit Cost 540 MTPD
sulphur-based plant
7.36 t
1,250 kWh
34 t
95 m
3
4.1 m
3
2,355,000
500,000
-2,176,000
22,800
16,400
~ 720,000
7.36 t
1,400 kWh
25 t
930 m
3
3.3 m
3
2,355,000
560,000
-1,600,000
223,200
13,200
~1,550,000
4.0 8.6
Conclusion
The advantages of the lean gas WSA process is now
available also for strong gases
WSA-DC is a supplement to existing lean gas WSA
Lean gas WSA process for gases < 6.5% SO
2
WSA-DC for gases up to 13% SO
2
WSA-DC increases heat recovery rate
Sulphur recovery rate as high as 99.95%
Thank you for your attention
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