How to utilize 30 tons of hydrogen sulfide per day?
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At a certain oil refinery, a light hydrocarbon mixture containing H2S, after being treated with organic amines, produces a stripped gas containing approximately 90% H2S; the flow rate of this gas is about 30 tons per day. Now consider two options: 1) First, convert H2S to SO2 through air oxidation to produce sulfuric acid, which can be used as the final product or reacted with ammonia to produce ammonium sulfate ； 2) First, convert H2S to SO2 through air oxidation, and then react it with ammonia water to produce sulfuric acid. Which option has a lower investment and is more reasonable? The use of the Claus process for sulfur production is not being considered at present. Thank you for your advice!
There’s a bit too little sulfur here – only about 10,000 tons per year – so the previous sulfur processing facility was certainly not cost-effective. The process of producing acid from hydrogen sulfide doesn’t seem to be a good method either; the yield is low and unstable. The last option should be the better one. If the hydrogen sulfide-containing gas is relatively clean, it can also be absorbed to form alkali sulfide.
Thank you for qugd’s reply. Since there are ammonia sources near the refinery and sulfur ammonium also has a market, the owners prefer the route of producing sulfur ammonium. However, due to the high concentration of SO2, a large amount of air may be needed to dilute it when reacting it with ammonia to produce ammonium sulfate; otherwise, the SO2 level in the exhaust gases after the reaction will exceed the allowable limits and fail to meet the emission standards.
All of f will burn to produce sulfur dioxide, which is then converted into sulfur trioxide; high water content requires drying
Sell it as sulfur (or liquid sulfur) instead; let others handle the downstream products
Ammonium sulfate is reliable! Investing heavily in sulfuric acid yields only average returns
30 tons per 24 hours, which means a little over one ton per hour; that’s too little. The second option seems slightly more feasible.
Personally, I think the route involving combustion to produce sulfuric acid and then AN sulfuric acid is more stable (in terms of design/construction/operation)； Two types of products can be produced, offering great flexibility ； The second option poses significant environmental pressures ； It’s not clear whether amine escape can be resolved ； It may seem like the route is simple, but in reality the actual manufacturing process is no simpler than the first option. Or consider biological desulfurization, where hydrogen sulfide is washed away to produce sulfur at normal temperature and pressure in one step ； However, the purity of sulfur is low; if there is no market for it locally, it needs to be further heated and purified to achieve Claus-grade sulfur ； It is estimated that heating for the refinery should not be a problem. It seems that the overall process route should be simpler, involving low temperature and pressure as well as straightforward operations. However, since amine is available locally, it’s best to make use of this local advantage.
Sulfuric acid and ammonium sulfate are both commodities that are in abundant supply and not in demand; many manufacturers dispose of them at a loss, as there is no economic sense in doing so. H2S is an excellent reducing agent; this characteristic must be taken fully into account. It is recommended to use iron ions to treat H2S to obtain sulfur and ferrous iron; electrolyzing the ferrous iron yields pure iron and regenerated ferric iron, with no waste generated. The products are pure iron and sulfur, which are not subject to any sales pressures. For details, you can contact me via email at myben@126.com
Production of sulfur using the Claus process