초록 ▼

The disclosed sulfur recovery system and process avoid some of the operational problems of conventional Claus plants and processes by replacing the reaction burner and furnace tube of a conventional Claus plant with a more efficient short contact time catalytic reactor assembly containing a SPOC�� c

The disclosed sulfur recovery system and process avoid some of the operational problems of conventional Claus plants and processes by replacing the reaction burner and furnace tube of a conventional Claus plant with a more efficient short contact time catalytic reactor assembly containing a SPOC�� catalyst that operates efficiently at elevated temperatures. Such Claus plant modification also reduces or avoids the negative effects of hydrocarbons, CO2 and ammonia in Claus sulfur plant feeds, and permits efficient processing of dilute to concentrated H2S feeds. The disclosed modification makes possible the expansion of Claus plant capacity at lower cost.

대표청구항 ▼

What is claimed is: 1. A process for recovering sulfur from a H2S-containing gas stream comprising: directing a reactant gas stream comprising a mixture of H2S and O2 into a catalytic partial oxidation reaction zone with a partial oxidation catalyst under catalytic partial oxidation conditions and

What is claimed is: 1. A process for recovering sulfur from a H2S-containing gas stream comprising: directing a reactant gas stream comprising a mixture of H2S and O2 into a catalytic partial oxidation reaction zone with a partial oxidation catalyst under catalytic partial oxidation conditions and catalyzing the reactant gas stream to produce a first stage product gas stream; maintaining the temperature of said catalytic partial oxidation reaction zone above 500�� C.; condensing gaseous elemental sulfur from said first stage product gas stream to provide liquid sulfur and a partially desulfurized first stage product gas stream comprising H2S and SO2; separating at least a portion of the liquid sulfur from the first stage product gas stream; directing the first stage product gas stream into a Claus reaction unit with Claus catalyst under Claus catalytic conditions and converting H2S and SO2 to elemental sulfur and water to yield a second stage product gas stream comprising elemental sulfur and water; and condensing elemental sulfur from said second stage product gas stream to provide a tail gas stream. 2. The process of claim 1 further comprising carrying out serially at least one tail gas treatment whereby residual sulfur-containing compounds are removed from said tail gas stream. 3. The process of claim 1 comprising maintaining a O2:H2S molar ratio in the range of 0.25:1 to 0.75:1 in said reactant gas stream. 4. The process of claim 1 further comprises maintaining the temperature of said catalytic partial oxidation reaction zone in the range of 500�� C.-1,500�� C. 5. The process of claim 1 wherein said contacting said reactant gas stream comprises providing an H2S containing stream and an O2 containing stream and preheating said H2S containing stream to about 200�� C. before contacting the partial oxidation catalyst. 6. The process of claim 1 wherein said contacting said reactant gas stream comprises contacting each portion of said reactant gas stream that contacts the partial oxidation catalyst for a contact time of no more than about 1 second. 7. The process of claim 6 wherein said contacting said reactant gas stream comprises contacting each portion of said reactant gas stream that contacts the partial oxidation catalyst for a contact time of no more than about 10 to 200 milliseconds. 8. The process of claim 1 comprising operating said process at a space velocity of at least about 20,000 h-1. 9. The process of claim 1 comprising operating said process at superatmospheric pressure. 10. The process of claim 1 wherein the partial oxidation catalyst comprises at least one metal chosen from the group consisting of Pt, Rh, Ru, Ir, Ni, Pd, Fe, Co, Re, Rb, V, Bi, Sb, Mg, Ca and Ba, and optionally, at least one lanthanide element chosen from the group consisting of La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu. 11. The process of claim 1 wherein the partial oxidation catalyst comprises at least one metal chosen from the group consisting of Pt, Rh, Ru, Ir, Ni, Pd, Fe, Co, Re, Rb, V, Bi, Sb and Ba, and optionally at least one alkaline element chosen from the group consisting of Mg and Ca.