Lurgi Sulfur Management

crude oil petrol

H2S Claus S

Introduction
On the way from gaseous, liquid or solid feedstocks to petrol,
heating oil or petrochemical products, the feedstocks need
to be purified of sulfuric compounds.

For environmental reasons, these compounds must not be

burned off and thus released to the atmosphere. Conse-
quently, these sulfuric compounds need to be converted to
sulfur in a Claus plant.

Contents
Introduction 2
Claus Technologies 3
– Claus Process
– OxyClaus® Process
Tail Gas Technologies 4/5
– MAXISULF® and SULFREEN®
– HYDROSULFREEN®
– Lurgi Tail Gas Treating LTGT®
Sulfur Degassing 5
– Sulfur Degassing Process AQUISULF®
Special Sulfur Concepts 6
– Emission-free Sulfur Recovery Unit
– OmniSulf®
Recovery Rates and Cost Factors 7
References 7

2
 Claus Plant with a
Capacity of 132 t/d

Claus Technologies OxyClaus® Process

Claus Process Advantages of the OxyClaus® Process
The Claus process continues to be the most widely used I Capacity boosting of existing Claus and tail gas units.

process worldwide for the conversion of H2S to sulfur. I Significant reduction in capital investment when building

The requirements to be met by Claus plants are dictated by new Claus and tail gas units.
the operating conditions of modern, flexible refineries and I Processing of feed gases with both high and low

natural gas plants and increasingly stringent emission con- hydrogen sulfide contents (20–100 vol %).
trol regulations. The highly efficient recovery of elemental I Flexible processing when handling temporarily high or

sulfur from hydrogen sulfide, carbonyl sulfide, carbon bisul- low amounts of hydrogen sulfide by automatic change
fide, sulfur dioxide or other gaseous sulfur compounds over from air to oxygen operation and vice versa.
involves four main process steps: I Processing of Claus gases with elevated hydrocarbon

I partial substoichiometric combustion, contents.

I catalytic conversion in two or more stages, I Almost complete combustion of ammonia contained in

I tail gas cleanup to boost sulfur yield, ammonia-laden sour water stripper offgases.
I thermal or catalytic incineration of tail gases.

Advantages of the Lurgi Claus Process

I Unique burner system including ammonia/RSH

destruction

Acid Gas (H2S Gas) Process Air

H2S Acid Gas
SWS-Gas
Oxygen
2 (3) Cat.
Combustion Incinerator Stack
Reactors/ Pilot
Chamber
Condensers
Fuel Gas
Air
(Oxygen) Steam
Sulfur FG
Air
FG SWS Gas

Catalytic Stages Sulfur Recovery Rate Combustion Air

Claus 2 96 % - 97 %
Oxygen
Claus 3 97 % - 98 %

Lurgi Claus Process OxyClaus® Process

3
 1000 t/d Claus-Sulfreen Plant

Tailgas Technologies
MAXISULF® and SULFREEN®
A very efficient and low-budget SULFREEN tail gas treat-
ment process is MAXISULF. It is basically a one-stage
(one adsorber, one regenerator) SULFREEN unit with an
open regeneration loop.
The regeneration gas is fed to the adsorber together with
the Claus tail gas, whereas in the SULFREEN process the
regeneration gas is recycled. With MAXISULF, yields of
up to 98.5 % can be achieved. The SULFREEN process is
a catalytic tail gas process which has been successfully
HYDROSULFREEN®
If even higher sulfur yields have to be obtained, an addi-
tional process stage comprising hydrogenation and hydro-
lysis with adjustment of the H2S/SO2 ratio to 2 can be
installed upstream of the SULFREEN process. This concept
permits sulfur yields of up to 99.6 %.
Advantages of the SULFREEN® Processes
I Continuation of catalytical Claus process
I No chemicals/solvents needed

employed in more than 45 Claus plants. This SULFREEN I Increase of sulfur recovery rate step by step by using

process permits sulfur yields to be boosted to over 99.0 %. existing SULFREEN equipment and only adding additional
For even higher yields, a second absorber stage can be added. catalytical stage(s).

FG
Acid-Gas

Claus Sulfreen® Incinerator Stack

Processes

(Oxygen) FG

Air Sulfur Sulfur Air

Catalytic Stages Sulfur Recovery Rate

Sulfreen® 2 99.0 %
HydroSulfreen® 3 99.6 %

Lurgi Sub-dewpoint Processes

4
 Sulfur Degassing
Lurgi Tail Gas Treating LTGT® Sulfur Degassing Process AQUISULF®
Catalytic tail gas processes reach their practical limits when For sulfur degassing, Lurgi uses the AQUISULF process
sulfur yields of over 99.9 % are required. In such a case, from ELF.
hydrogenation and water condensation have to be followed Liquid sulfur obtained from H2S in Claus units necessarily
by a (usually) selective chemical absorption process to contains dissolved H2S desorbed during transportation and
remove the remaining H2S and return it to the Claus feed accumulated in the gaseous phase of tanks. At a certain
gas. Lurgi has built a number of such absorption systems concentration, it may become explosive and, in any case,
and can offer the necessary references. This process com- is hazardous for operators.
bination brings off-gas H2S levels down to 200 ppm prior to Moreover H2S in liquid sulfur has an adverse effect on the
thermal incineration. solidity of formed sulfur and particularly on sulfur slate
strength.
In order to solve these problems, ELF conducted their own
FG experiments to develop a liquid sulfur degassing process
Acid-Gas bringing residual H2S down to less than 10 ppm by weight.
LTGT ®
Hydrogen Reactor
Claus Quench Tower Incinerator Stack
Amine Absorber &
Regenerator Advantages of the degassing catalyst
(Oxygen) FG I Guaranteed H2S level in liquid sulfur of less than

Air Sulfur Sulfur Air 10 ppm by weight

I Best solubility in sulfur (only small quantities are required)

I No solid deposits in sulfur

Recovery Rate
99,9 %+

LTGT®-Lurgi Tail Gas Treatment Technology

Advantages of Selective Chemical Adsorption (LTGT®)

I Extremely high sulfur recovery rates of more than 99.9 %
I Possibility of using existing solvent regeneration units

I No license fee for LTGT

5
 Sulfur

Special Sulfur Concepts

Emission-free SRU Advantages of Emission-free SRU
For residual H2S levels below 10 vol. ppm, Lurgi offers a I Lower investment cost due to the use of oxygen

process combination in which the process gases leaving the (OxyClaus®)

Claus plant are cooled to temperatures around 125 °C to I No sulfur emissions from SRU

precipitate the elemental sulfur. Subsequently, the sulfur I Recycle of process gas results in reduction of sulfur

compounds are hydrolyzed to hydrogen sulfide, water is emissions to atmosphere in total complex
condensed and the gas directed to an absorber stage in I Higher efficiency in energy production section in IGCC

the upstream gas purification unit, where its H2S content is due to higher gas volume
reduced to below 10 ppm. All sorbents employed in the dif-
ferent absorption stages including the ones for Claus feed Integrated Natural Gas Treating Concept OmniSulf®
supply are jointly regenerated. The resulting hydrogen Advantages
sulfide is returned to the combustion chamber. After having I Single source responsibility

been freed of its H2S load, the gas is routed to the gas tur- I One licensor

bine, if required via intermediate compressors, or used as I No interfaces

stripping gas, resulting in an overall flue gas-free process. I Overall guarantees

This makes it an ideal choice for combined cycle power I A one-stop shop

plant applications.

Aquisulf ®
Claus Tail Gas Desul-
Raw Fuel Gas to Claus furized
Gas H2S Removal Desulfurized Gas Gas Turbine LTGT ® tailgas Atm
COS Hydrolysis SRU
(Purisol®/MDEA) AGE Incineration
H2S Rich Gas
S

SRU
Sulfur
OxyClaus® Sulfur Storage
Oxygen Degassing Flash Gas
Hyrogenation & Truck Loading
(AQUISULF®)
Quench Mercaptan Rich Gas Fuel Gas
Purisol®
Claus Tail Gas
Sulfur Acid Gas
Product
Regeneration Off Gas
Tail Gas
Recompression Raw Natural Gas RSH + H2O Sweet Gas
aMDEA®
Removal

Lurgi Emission-free SRU Option OmniSulf®

6
For natural gas treating, i.e. for gas sweetening and mer- Recovery Rates and Cost Factors
captan removal, Lurgi has developed an innovative concept,
Lurgi Sulfur Technology Recoveries in % Cost Factor in %
the BASF-Lurgi OmniSulf® process.
The first step is an activated MDEA (aMDEA® of BASF) Claus, 2 catalytic stages 96.0 – 97.0 100
acid gas removal unit removing H2S, COS and CO2 to LNG Claus, 3 catalytic stages 97.0 – 98.0 110
gas quality, producing an acid gas as well as a very small
Claus (2) + SULFREEN® 99.0 – 99.2 135
amount of flash gas. The sweetened natural gas still con-
taining mercaptans, but only little H2S and COS, is routed to Claus (3) + SULFREEN® 99.2 – 99.5 145

a molecular sieve unit. Claus (2) + HYDROSULFREEN® 99.5 – 99.7 155

This special molecular sieve unit finally produces the dry, Claus (2) + LTGT® using 99.8 – 99.9+ 165
sweet gas according to LNG specification. The batch regen- existing regeneration unit
eration of the molecular sieves yields a gas stream contain-
Claus (2) + LTGT® incl. 99.8 – 99.9+ 185
ing almost all the mercaptans and a significant amount of regeneration
hydrocarbons. From this stream, hydrocarbons are recov-
Emission-free Claus 100 165
ered in the PURISOL® (Lurgi proprietary physical absorption)
process as fuel gas. In the PURISOL® solvent regeneration Approximate SRU cost depending on recoveries (minimum 50 % vol.
unit, a stream very rich in mercaptans is produced and H2S in feed gas to Claus)

completely combusted in the Claus unit together with the

aMDEA® flash gas, containing mainly hydrocarbons but
also some mercaptans as well as some H2S. References
The acid gas from the aMDEA® is routed to an acid gas Status: end of 2005
enrichment (AGE) absorber. The AGE is part of the Lurgi Tail We have contracted:
Gas Treatment (LTGT®) unit and produces a semi-lean gas. I more than 160 Claus plants, having sulfur capacities

This semi-lean gas, leaving the absorption column, is routed per train from 4 t/d up to 1000 t/d
to the LTGT® unit. The solvent used in the LTGT® absorber I more than 35 OxyClaus® processes (sulfur capacities

as well as in the AGE absorber is generic MDEA. This allows per train: 4 t/d up to 270 t/d)
for a common regenerator to be used. This regenerator pro- I more than 60 tail gas treating processes (sulfur

duces the acid gas with an enriched amount of H2S for the capacities per train from 4 t/d up to 1000 t/d)
Claus unit, which makes the Claus plant (and the whole SRU) I contracts have been signed for more than 50 Aquisulf®

smaller and easier to operate than without the AGE unit. sulfur degassing units having total degassing capacities
The gas from the LTGT® is combusted in the incinerator. from 20 t/d up to 3600 t/d

7
Lurgi is a leading company operating worldwide in the fields
of process engineering and plant contracting. Lurgi stands
for innovative technologies focusing on customized solutions
for growth markets. The technological leadership is based
on proprietary technologies and exclusively licensed tech-
nologies in the areas gas-to-chemicals products via synthetic
gas or methanol and synthetic fuels, gas generation and
treatment, petrochemical intermediate and end products,
biofuels as well as food and oleochemicals.

274e/03.06/15

Lurgi AG
Lurgiallee 5 D-60295 Frankfurt am Main
Phone: +49 (0) 69 5808-0 Fax: +49 (0) 69 5808-3888
E-Mail: kommunikation@lurgi.de Internet: www.lurgi.com