Issues with air supply for sulfur recovery
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In our unit’s Claus sulfur recovery process, rotary blowers are used to supply air. I would like to ask: why are rotary blowers chosen? Couldn’t centrifugal blowers be used instead? Or why not use air supplied by an air separation unit directly?
Sulfur production furnaces and flue gas incinerators have low requirements for air, serving to assist combustion. Air separation units act as the main supply source for process gases throughout the plant; however, using compressed air from air separation units results in high operational costs, while rotary blowers are much cheaper and easier to maintain
When the scale of the installation is too small, centrifugal fans are not a good choice (as no artificial devices are available). Air separation supply is oxygen-enriched, and there are not many application examples for this. Our pipelines were laid years ago but have never been put to use, and there are three reasons for this: 1. The pressure is too low, so the fluid cannot be delivered. Adding a compressor may not be sufficient in terms of energy consumption management. 2. Unstable temperature, high moisture content, with condensation and liquid seals along the path. 3. The other party isn’t proactive when it comes to releasing air (they keep resisting); it could have been released freely before, but now they have to follow your rules.
When the scale of the installation is too small, centrifugal fans are not a good choice (as no artificial devices are available). Air separation supply is oxygen-enriched, and there are not many application examples for this. Our pipelines were laid years ago but have never been put to use, and there are three reasons for this: 1. The pressure is too low, so the fluid cannot be delivered. Adding a compressor may not be sufficient in terms of energy consumption management. 2. Unstable temperature, high moisture content, with condensation and liquid seals along the path. 3. The other party isn’t proactive when it comes to releasing air (they keep resisting); it could have been released freely before, but now they have to follow your rules.
When the scale of the installation is too small, centrifugal fans are not a good choice (as no artificial devices are available). Air separation supply is oxygen-enriched, and there are not many application examples for this. Our pipelines were laid years ago but have never been put to use, and there are three reasons for this: 1. The pressure is too low, so the fluid cannot be delivered. Adding a compressor may not be sufficient in terms of energy consumption management. 2. Unstable temperature, high moisture content, with condensation and liquid seals along the path. 3. The other party isn’t proactive when it comes to releasing air (they keep resisting); it could have been released freely before, but now they have to follow your rules.
For almost the same reason, the idea of finding a way to disconnect an oxygen line and plug it into the air line was abandoned.