Section: CRUSU Market & Features

The production of renewable fuels by retrofitting existing refineries and their infrastructure is witnessing exponential growth. The impact on the existing amine, sour water and sulphur recovery units is inevitable. Based on several case studies, Marco van Son, Shashank Gujale and Tammy Chan of Worley Comprimo discuss the various options available to holistically review the sulphur block to determine the impact and mitigation of processing bio-feed.

Sulphur production continues to expand in the Middle East and China both from new refineries and major sour gas projects.

The Sulphur Institute (TSI) held its World Sulphur Symposium in Edinburgh from April 25th to 27th.

With the challenges facing the global refining industry, refiners should review their current practices to see how they can stay competitive and continue to thrive in today’s market. This means improving operational efficiencies and producing products at a lower cost, whilst ensuring performance and safety. Brian Visioli of Evonik explores the development of catalyst reuse and how recycled hydroprocessing catalysts can be successfully applied in tail gas treating units to deliver cost and performance gains.

As part of the expansion of the Shah gas plant (SGP) in the United Arab Emirates, a new 12-inch pipeline was designed and commissioned in January 2020. Hassa Al Mulla, Ravi Srinivas and Alsail Al Jaberi of ADNOC Sour Gas highlight the best practices implemented in the newly commissioned liquid sulphur pipeline.

New sulphur burning capacity in India is expected to come online in the coming months at fertilizer producer operations. This will lead to an increase in sulphur import demand but also impact sulphuric acid imports to the country.

Incorporating sulphur into polymers is known to improve their properties. New research is looking into the varied world of sulphur co-polymers, unlocking new materials for batteries, structural applications and clean technology.

BASF is challenging traditional catalyst shapes and performance relationships by introducing a radically new shaping concept resulting in materials with step change properties and performance. This innovative concept using 3D-printing technology is applicable to a wide range of reactions in the chemical industry and BASF is using sulphuric acid catalysts as the pilot to pioneer new ground.

Inshan S Mohammed of Sulfur Recovery Engineering shares the lessons learned from an emergency shutdown of an MCRC sulphur recovery unit in the middle of a cold Canadian winter where temperatures can be -30°C.

Liquid fuels will be with us for decades to come, but refiners will be pushed to decarbonise their activities, via greater use of biofuels, and green/blue hydrogen use.