Sulfur Review

“Scientists dream about doing great things. Engineers do them.” -- James A. Michener (U.S. novelist and short-story writer, 1907-1997)

Hydrocarbon Engineering’s April 2015 issue includes that publication’s annual Sulfur Review. It offers a comprehensive overview of the key sulfur technologies available to plant/refinery operations.

Hydrocarbon Engineering is an excellent publication to follow for innovative applications of current technology in plant scale environments.  There is no free access to the full text of the magazine   To benefit from the information in the annual Sulfur Review and the articles on the other topics of interest to the hydrocarbon community, you simply have to subscribe.  No way around it.

However, if you are not a subscriber, but might consider signing up, there are a number of free samples you can read online to test the quality of the publication.

TIP: Google® “hydrocarbon engineering” (in quotes) and browse the results to explore the free full text articles from that publication that have been posted.

For your convenience, here are a few of the items I found as the result of the above search …

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Sulfur yesterday, today, and tomorrow: part one

A world of change separates the sulfur industry from what it was 20 years ago to what it is today, and what it will become. Major projects, namely in the Middle East, will change the face of sulfur supply around the world. In 2013 and 2014, global sulfur production was on the order of 60 million t with approximately 25% coming from North America, the largest regional producer.1 By 2019, it is forecast that new projects will bring production on the order of 70 million tpy, resulting in a 5 million t surplus compared to today’s near balance between supply and demand.2

A bit of history
Sulfur has been used since antiquity, but the first real jump in use came about in the 13th century when the Chinese discovered black powder, which contains sulfur. With developments in chemistry in the 17th century, and the chemical industry in the 18th century, sulfur came to be known for the source of sulfuric acid, a versatile mineral acid used in a variety of everyday processes today.

Initially, sulfur demand was satisfied from volcanic deposits, extensive in Sicily, Italy. The volcanic production dominated the market until the discovery of the Frasch mining process in the late 19th century. From 1950 onward, sulfur recovery from natural gas processing and petroleum refining increased significantly. While Frasch has seen a drastic decline in sulfur production, that from natural gas processing and petroleum refining has only increased and will dominate into the future as the major source of sulfur.

Uses
Concurrent with the expansion of recovered sulfur from oil and natural gas, the fertiliser industry made tremendous gains and in doing so increased consumption of sulfur dramatically. In the 1950s and 1960s, more concentrated phosphate materials, such as diammonium phosphate (DAP) and monoammonium phosphate (MAP) came into dominance. Phosphoric acid, required for DAP production, needs 0.8 - 1.1 t of sulfur per t of phosphate produced. Today, more than 50% of annual sulfur consumption is within the fertiliser industry.

Recovered sulfur from oil and gas
Sulfur is found in sour natural gas as free hydrogen sulfide and in crude oil as organic sulfur compounds. While refining crude oil, the portion of the refinery stream is subjected to hydrogenation to convert sulfur compounds into gaseous hydrogen sulfide. With both oil and natural gas, further processing occurs and the solution is stripped of its hydrogen sulfide content, yielding concentrated hydrogen sulfide or acid gas.

Most commonly, acid gas is treated using the Claus process for sulfur recovery. The Claus process burns approximately one third of the hydrogen sulfide under controlled conditions to produce sulfur dioxide. The sulfur dioxide is mixed with the remaining hydrogen sulfide and reacts to produce high quality elemental sulfur, which is then collected as liquid sulfur. Greater removal efficiency can be achieved by the further processing of hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide through catalytic converters.

Another recovery source
Elemental sulfur is the desired feedstock to make sulfuric acid. Sulfur burning plants can be designed to use solid or liquid feedstock. Sulfur is burned to produce a gas stream containing sulfur dioxide. The sulfur dioxide is then treated to form sulfuric acid. The sulfur recovery to acid rate can approximate 100%. Also, it is noteworthy that during this process approximately 1 t of steam is recovered for every ton of sulfuric acid produced, playing the important role of power production in the economics of the process.

Iron pyrites are another source of sulfuric acid. Pure iron pyrites contain an average of 53% sulfur, while commercial grades normally range from 40 - 50% sulfur. The pyrites industry is still important in China, but plants to produce sulfuric acid from pyrites are considered expensive and have led to the climb in processing from the oil and gas industries.

References
1.CHAUHAN, M. Integer Research, ‘Sulphur market dynamics’, presented at The Sulphur Institute’s Sulphur World Symposium 2014, Long Beach, California, USA, 9 April 2014.
2.GUSTIN, K. CRU, ‘The movers and the shakers: a sulphur market outlook’, presented at Sulphur 2014 International Conference and Exhibition, Paris, France. 3 - 6 November 2014.

Written by Donald Messick, The Sulphur Institute, USA. This is an abridged article taken from the April 2015 issue of Hydrocarbon Engineering. Part two will be available soon.
Published on 02/04/2015
source: http://www.energyglobal.com/downstream/special-reports/02042015/Sulfur-yesterday-today-and-tomorrow-part-one-570/
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Hydrocarbon Engineering, December 2014 (Entire issue)
http://49221e82b71d8eb279ac-4c440124eb4d1c495a36d3b50d7e92f0.r20.cf3.rackcdn.com/HydrocarbonEngineering/December-2014/index.html#12
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Hydrocarbon Engineering, November 2013
Within Reach: Michael A. Silverman, Carlos A. Cabrera and Michael D. Hillerman, Ivanhoe Energy USA, Disucss How HTL Enables Monetisation of Heavy Oil In Remote Locations
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=14&ved=0CC4QFjADOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ivanhoeenergy.com%2Fs%2Farticles.asp%3FReportID%3D683690&ei=d-giVZSBFsmCsAW1z4DIAw&usg=AFQjCNFBkvUNZJiViFsHzxEclHdlU_IzEA&bvm=bv.89947451,d.eXY
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Hydrocarbon Engineering, February 2012
When Speed Matters: Loek van Eijck, Yokogawa, The Netherlands, questions whether rapid analysis of gases and liquids can be better achieved through use of a gas chromatograph or near infrared analyzser.
http://www.yokogawa.com/us/technical-library/downloads/when-speed-matters-hydrocarbon-engineering.htm
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Hydrocarbon Engineering, August 2002
Integrated Gas Supply
G.H. Shahani and R.C. Best, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., USA, and S. Sekhri and M.P. Ralston, Technip, USA, discuss the market forces reshaping the worldwide refinery market and outline several options for the simultaneous supply of hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and utilities.
http://www.h2alliance.com/pdf/338_0101.pdf
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Hydrocarbon Engineering, November 2014
Optimising Emissions Reporting
Esam Al Sayid and Muath Hashem, Saudi Aramco, and Hung-Ming Sung, Adam Williams and Arun Kanchan, Trinity Consultants, USA, discuss means of overcoming challenges to enterprise emissions reporting.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=31&ved=0CB0QFjAAOB4&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.trinityconsultants.com%2FWorkArea%2FDownloadAsset.aspx%3Fid%3D6576&ei=y-4iVezKOoiYNoqDgNgC&usg=AFQjCNGV-Y7wBtOX8JiSjpbOgZ4cbfV4KQ&bvm=bv.89947451,d.eXY
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Hydrocarbon Engineering, April 2010
Long Distance
Fadi Ghajar and Curtis Steuckrath, Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia, and Yiannis Bessiris, Hyperion Systems Engineering, Cyprus, present a novel approach to operator training simulation.
http://www.hyperionsystems.net/images/stories/docs/HydrocarbonEngineering-LongDistanceOperatorTraining.pdf
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Hydrocarbon Engineering, April 2014
LO-CAT®: A Flexible Hydrogen Sulfide Removal Process
By William Rouleau & John Watson - Merichem Company
http://www.merichem.com/LO-CAT-Flexible-H2S-Removal-Process
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Hydrocarbon Engineering, October 2012
The Calm Before the Storm
'The Calm Before The Storm’, a Gordon Cope article which appeared in the October 2012 edition of Hydrocarbon Engineering, provided yet another prediction of the forthcoming elemental sulphur surplus. With increased and enhanced oil and gas production and the increased utilization of sour oil and gas reserves, elemental sulphur production is growing quickly. Placement of elemental sulphur poses a challenge to the oil and gas industry – a challenge that is only expected to grow. Cope calls for an increase in sulphur consumption through the opening up of new markets to modern agriculture and for a solution to the massive sulphur stockpiles that have been accumulated in the oilsands region of Northern Alberta.
http://sulvaris.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Cope-Calm-Before-The-Storm.pdf
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Hydrocarbon Engineering, November 2013
Don't Be Medieval, Make More Diesel!
Hydrocarbon Engineering, November 2013. Bi-Zeng Zhan and Theo Maesen, Chevron Lummus Global, USA, Jay Parekh and Dan Torchia, Advanced Refining Technology, USA, describe how catalyst technology approaches and processing tactics can be used to optimise hydrocracker unit operation in order to meet the future needs for diesel and gas oil production.
http://www.chevron.com/Products/Sitelets/RefiningTechnology/Documents/2013,HENovZhanMaesenParekhTorchiaArticle.pdf
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