Sulfur system pressure
Thread Content
How to determine whether the pressure in the sulfur system is normal? What is the relationship with air distribution and the amount of acidic gas? Is there a formula?
The pressure in the sulfur system generally depends on several factors: first, whether the liquid sulfur pipeline is unobstructed, and whether there is sulfur accumulation in the sulfur cooler； Second, check whether there is carbon or sulfur deposition in the reactor bed, which could affect the flow area ； Thirdly, low temperatures resulting from leaks in the tube sheet of the sulfur cooler or in the outlet capture screens, as well as from other heating issues, can also affect the removal of liquid sulfur from the system ； Fourth, determine the maximum flow rate in the gas pipelines; calculate the maximum load based on the smallest diameter section of the process piping (which is what the original poster referred to as the relationship between the air distribution and the amount of acidic gas). If the concentration and volume of acidic gas remain within the designed limits, there will be no problems ； Fifth, blockage of the packing in the quench tower; this can be checked by looking at the pressure gauge in the Claus section. If the pressures throughout that section are roughly the same, then a blockage is likely.
Sour gas volume, air volume, and recovery backpressure are proportional to each other; whether there is a blockage is determined by comparing it with the backpressure under normal operation.
1. For newly designed units that have not yet started production, inquire with the design firm as to what the system backpressure is approximately. 2. For the units that are already in operation, check the changes in the backpressure at the burner tip. Carefully check the differences between the operating parameters at each device and the design values. An approximate value for the air supply can be calculated using a formula; only H2S and CH4 are taken into account here, as the amounts of other hydrocarbons present in the acidic gas are small and can be ignored. Q(air) = (0.5Y(H2S) + 2Y(CH4)) / 0.21, where Y(H2S) represents the concentration of H2S and Y(CH4) represents the concentration of CH4