Section: CRUSU Market & Features

Liquid sulphur presents unique challenges in its handling and transport compared to solid sulphur.

Intermittent supply from China due to export restrictions and US duty changes have kept markets guessing over the past couple of years, and there is no sign of that changing.

As Comprimo celebrates its 100th anniversary, we explore the group’s history from its earliest days in the Netherlands in the 1920s to its current status as a global leader in gas treatment and sulphur recovery technology.

Aparna Saiju and Nishevitha U G of SLB-MPS explore the concept of energy optimisation using power recovery turbine (PRT) technology in amine sweetening units, focusing on its potential benefits, implementation strategies, and environmental implications.

A plant operating a spent acid decomposition furnace as part of its sulphuric acid production facility desired to increase acid production primarily by processing additional spent acid while making minimal modifications to the plant equipment and operations. The Messer solution entailed introducing oxygen in two steps, both as an enrichment to the combustion air and by direct injection into the furnace. The resulting performance improvements exceeded the project objectives for acid production and spent acid decomposition, without increasing NOx emissions. This paper provides a summary of the system start-up and tuning and presents the resulting improvements and lessons learned.

Ganank Srivastava of Bryan Research & Engineering examines ways to reduce carbon footprint in sour gas facilities.

Though production, particularly from sour gas in Alberta, has declined, Canada remains the world’s second largest exporter of sulphur.

The Aecometric 3rd generation burner was developed, installed and commissioned for an SRU incinerator with increased stringent demands to reduce NOx emission and lower energy consumption. Mason Lee of Aecometric Corporation reports on the new burner design and performance. The emission test results show a significant improvement in addressing these environmental concerns to achieve low NOx (<50 mg/m3 ) combustion and minimise CO (<200 mg/m3 ) emissions.

Downstream phosphate production is expected to climb, with further sulphur price recovery expected. Overall, global demand remains lacklustre as downstream demand has yet to increase substantially in key markets and sulphur availability from most origins is ample.

As refiners adapt to the transition to a lower carbon economy, different strategies are likely to impact upon sulphur output.