The issue of by-products in Klaus sulfur recovery
Thread Content
Recently, we have discovered a large amount of salts in our system, which is causing significant resistance within it. How were these salts formed? How to remove it?
:) Could it be that there are many impurity calcium and magnesium ions in the liquid phase? It could be analyzed.
It might be sulfate; chemical or physical cleaning can be used
The production of sulfur via the Claus process is a chemical reaction, and the products should not contain those substances you mentioned; salts are present in them. It is necessary to check whether such substances have been introduced into the system from the feed gas, during the production process, or during liquid storage – this should make it possible to identify the problem. The low-temperature methanol washing process does not introduce any liquid from the feed gas; storage in liquid form seems unlikely to cause such an issue as well. It’s possible that it could be introduced during the production process, so check whether there are any leaks in your waste heat boiler or similar issues.
It is likely that the feed gas to the Inclaus process contains NH4; due to the insufficient combustion temperature in the Claus burners, NH4 does not decompose and ends up in the boilers and catalytic beds located further downstream, where it reacts with H2S and SO4 produced by the sulfation of the catalyst, resulting in salts. Salt buildup naturally increases the pressure drop; the only, and complete, solution is to replace the catalyst. . . . The commonly mentioned thermal regeneration of catalysts has nothing to do with this and provides no assistance at all.
It is unlikely that the system will produce salts, and the amount of ammonium salts entering the acidic gas will not be significant
There must be too much NH3 in the system; the salts are likely mainly ammonium salts! Washing with water should solve the problem!
If the system contains ammonia, it will react with the catalyst to form salts, resulting in the permanent deactivation of the catalyst.
Are you sure it’s salts and not other impurities, such as carbon black or lining? Have you analyzed it?