Patent Application
20080311030
This invention relates to an apparatus and a method for operating the apparatus for continuously recovering sulfur from gas containing 0.1 to 3.0 vol-%, preferably 0.5 to 1.5 vol-% H2S and further gaseous sulfur compounds such as SO2, COS and CS2 as well as sulfur, comprising a reduction stage, in which the gaseous sulfur compounds and the sulfur can be reduced to H2S over a fixed-bed zone formed of a bed of hydrogenation catalyst, and a selective oxidation stage, in which H2S can be converted to sulfur over a fixed-bed zone formed of a bed of a selective oxidation catalyst.
The Claus process has long since been an important process for recovering sulfur from feed gases containing H2S. The plant for performing the Claus process generally consists of a thermal stage formed by a combustion chamber and a plurality of, preferably two or three, series-connected downstream catalytic stages each equipped with a fixed-bed catalyst. In the Claus process, part of the H2S is burnt to obtain SO2 according to the following equation:
H2S+1.5O2→SO2+H2O [1]
The rest of the unreacted H2S reacts with the SO2 formed according to the following equation:
2H2S+SO23S+2H2O [2]
to obtain sulfur and H2O.
In the thermal stage and in the catalytic stages, which each consist of a catalytic reactor, an intermediate superheater and a sulfur condenser, the conversion to sulfur is effected, which is, however, thermodynamically limited and, as experience has shown, ends with a sulfur recovery of about 94 to 98%, so that certain amounts of H2S and SO2 remain in the process gas.
EP-B-1115472 describes a process for recovering sulfur from gases containing H2S, in which in an oxidation stage part of the H2S contained in a gas stream is oxidized with oxygen to obtain SO2 and subsequently is reacted in two downstream catalytic stages according to the following Claus equation:
2H2S+SO23S+2H2O [3]
The SO2 contained in the product gas leaving the last catalytic stage is reduced catalytically over a fixed bed of a hydrogenation catalyst, which in gas flow direction is arranged in the last catalytic stage, and subsequently the H2S contained in the product gas leaving the last catalytic stage is selectively oxidized to obtain sulfur after condensating out the sulfur obtained. The catalytic stages are operated with an excess of H2S, based on the above-mentioned stoichiometric equation [3]. A small part is branched off from the combustion air supplied to the thermal stage provided upstream of the catalytic stages and is added to the reheated product gas leaving the last catalytic stage. By means of this process, a sulfur recovery of more than 99.3 to 99.7% should be achieved, based on the gas entering a Claus plant in which the major amount of H2S and SO2 is converted to sulfur. Among other things, this process is based on the hydrogenation of SO2 left in the tail gas of the Claus process. The tail gas leaving the first catalytic reactor of a Claus stage is supplied to a second catalytic reactor, in which under a normal catalyst bed for the Claus reaction, which generally consists of Al2O3, a further catalyst bed, which consists of metals of groups VI and VIII of the Periodic Table, preferably of cobalt-molybdenum and nickel-molybdenum, is provided for the reduction of SO2 to S and H2S. H2 and CO, which likewise are contained in the tail gas, react with SO2 to obtain H2S and sulfur. In a selective oxidation stage, the H2S contained in the tail gas leaving the reduction stage is converted to sulfur.
It is the object of the present invention to improve the above-described apparatus for recovering sulfur from a gas stream containing 0.1 to 3.0 vol-% H2S and further gaseous sulfur compounds as well as sulfur, in particular from the tail gas stream of a Claus plant, by means of a hydrogenation stage and a downstream selective oxidation stage, in particular with regard to a lower expenditure.
This object is solved by a reaction tank, in whose first portion in gas flow direction the fixed-bed zone formed of a hydrogenation catalyst is provided and in whose second portion in gas flow direction the fixed-bed zone formed of a selective oxidation catalyst is provided, wherein a space for introducing a gaseous cooling medium containing the required atmospheric oxygen into the gas stream is provided between the fixed-bed zones. The reaction tank can be arranged vertically or horizontally with respect to its principal axis.
In accordance with the particular embodiment of the invention, the selective oxidation catalyst consists of iron oxide deposited on silicon carbide particles serving as carrier, wherein the iron content of the oxidation catalyst preferably is 0.5 to 10 wt-%. With this catalyst, a really positive effect can be achieved.
For operating the apparatus of the invention it is necessary that the gas stream introduced into the fixed-bed zone consisting of a hydrogenation catalyst first is heated to a temperature of 160 to 280° C., preferably 180 to 240° C., and the gas stream leaving this fixed-bed zone with a temperature of 200 to 320° C. is cooled to a temperature of 180 to 250° C. in the space existing between this fixed-bed zone and the fixed-bed zone formed of a selective oxidation catalyst by introducing a gaseous cooling medium into the gas stream.
According to a further feature of the invention, air is used as cooling medium, preferably with a three- to tenfold excess, in particular with a five- to eightfold excess. It is also possible to replace part of the air by nitrogen or steam or process gas or water droplets dispersed in the air. These cooling media provide for a good cooling of the gas stream without impairing the selectivity.
Expediently, the gas stream leaving the selective oxidation catalyst is cooled to a temperature of 120 to 160° C. upon leaving the reaction tank, in order to condense the sulfur obtained in the preceding process step.
The invention is illustrated in the drawing by way of example with reference to process flow diagrams and will subsequently be explained in detail with reference to embodiments set forth in Tables I, II and III.
In the drawing
Via conduit (1), the tail gas stream discharged from a non-illustrated plant for recovering sulfur according to the Claus process, which has a temperature of 140° C. and is composed of H2S, SO2, COS, CS2, CO, CO2, H2, H2O, N2 and “S” (“S” means “elementary sulfur”) according to Tables I, II and III, is heated to a temperature of 225° C. (Tables I, II) and 228° C. (Table III) in a heat exchanger (2) and charged via conduit (3) to the top of the reaction tank (4), in whose first portion in flow direction a fixed-bed zone (5) formed of a bed of hydrogenation catalyst is provided and in whose second portion in flow direction a fixed-bed zone (6) for selective oxidation is provided, which is formed of a bed of H2S direct catalyst. In the space (7) existing between the two fixed-bed zones (5, 6), air having a temperature of 70° C. is introduced into the gas stream via conduit (8). In this way, the product gas stream leaving the first fixed-bed zone (5) provided in flow direction with a temperature of 260° C. is cooled to a temperature of 245° C. (Tables I, III) and 235° C. (Table II). The product gas stream leaving the second fixed-bed zone (6) provided in flow direction with a temperature of 288° C. (Tables I, III) and 279° C. (Table II) is introduced via conduit (9) into a heat exchanger (10) and subsequently via conduit (11) into a separator (12), in which the sulfur contained in the product gas stream is separated, and is then discharged from the process via conduit (13). The product gas stream leaving the separator (12) has a temperature of 130° C. The temperatures indicated can vary by +/−5° C.
In the embodiment illustrated in Table (I), 97.9% of a feed gas containing 70 vol-% H2S have been converted to sulfur by means of the Claus process. The remaining tail gas, which upon entering the hydrogenation stage has the composition indicated in Table (I), is passed through the apparatus designed in accordance with the invention, whereby more sulfur is recovered, so that a total sulfur recovery value of 99.48% is obtained.
The embodiment set forth in Table (II) represents a variant of the embodiment in accordance with Table (I). It is demonstrated that the temperature in the selective oxidation stage can be controlled by changing the air quantity.
The embodiment in accordance with Table (III) refers to the tail gas obtained in the Claus process, in which 96.21% of a feed gas containing 50 vol-% H2S are converted to sulfur. By employing the invention, more sulfur can be recovered, so that a total conversion of 99.35% is achieved.
In the horizontally arranged reaction tank (14), which is schematically illustrated in
The advantages achieved with the invention in particular can be seen in that a reaction tank includes hydrogenation and oxidation stages, and by cooling the product gas stream leaving the fixed-bed hydrogenation catalyst, a reduction of temperature is possible without using a heat exchanger.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 102005022164.5 | May 2005 | DE | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2006/002514 | 3/18/2006 | WO | 00 | 6/26/2008 |
