Sulfur recovery processes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sulfur recovery processes - Essay Example gas treatment system, where the effluent gases that remain from the purification process are used to oxidize sulfur into sulfur dioxide, instead of being released to the atmosphere to cause pollution. Most significant is that this process yields high quality sulfur, making it a good source of this valuable chemical (Kohl & Nielsen, 1997). However, the air pollution controls that have been put in place have made the Claus process even more expensive, since some installations that prevent air pollution have to be made, despite the fact that they may not be economical at all. The problem of Claus Process is added to, by the fact that it is unable to fully convert hydrogen sulfide into elemental sulfur, due to some equilibrium limitations. Therefore, no matter how well the emission of sulfur compound is controlled, the process ends-up releasing relatively high quantities of the air pollutant than is actually acceptable (Kohl, 1997). Thus, most of the times, the process requires to be supplemented with specific processes meant to remove the sulfur residue, which ensures that any excess sulfur emission from the process is cleaned-up. Claus process occurs in two forms, referred to as the straight-through process and the split-flow process. The processes are differentiated by the fact that, while in the straight-through process gas is fed through the reaction furnace, it is fed directly into the major catalytic reactor through bypassing the furnace, in the split-flow process (Kohl & Nielsen, 1997). The choice of the process to be used between these two sulfur purification processes depends on the content of hydrogen sulfide in the gas to be purified, and whether the gas contains hydrocarbons. If the gas to be purified contains hydrocarbons, then, the straight-through process is opted for, while the split-flow process is applied where the gas does not contain large quantities of hydrocarbons (Kohl, 1997). There are some fundamental aspects of the Claus process that should