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US 11,638,898 B1Granted
Enhanced tail gas treatment of sulfur recovery unit with steam swept membranes
AssigneeSaudi Arabian Oil Company
InventorsFeras Hamad, Sebastien A. Duval, Milind M. Vaidya, Ahmad A. Bahamdan, Faisal D. Al-Otaibi
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Abstract
This invention relates to a system and method for improving sulfur recovery from a Claus unit. More specifically, this invention provides a steam swept membrane tail gas treatment system and method for treating acid gas streams and minimizing sulfur dioxide emissions therefrom.
Claims19
A method for removing sulfur-containing compounds from a sulfur recovery unit (SRU) tail gas stream, the method comprising the steps of:
- a) introducing the SRU tail gas stream produced by the SRU to a sulfur-converting unit to produce a membrane feed;
- b) introducing the membrane feed to a sulfur membrane unit, the sulfur membrane unit comprising an acid gas-selective membrane, wherein the membrane feed comprises sulfur-containing compounds;
- c) allowing the membrane feed to contact a feed side of the acid gas-selective membrane such that sulfur-containing compounds permeate through the membrane to a permeate side;
- d) supplying a steam feed to the permeate side of the acid gas-selective membrane to produce a sulfur concentrated stream, wherein the sulfur concentrated stream comprises sulfur-containing compounds, and wherein the heat used to produce the steam feed is sourced from the SRU boiler;
- and
- e) collecting the retentate gases that fail to permeate through the membrane to produce a sulfur lean stream retentate, wherein the sulfur lean stream retentate comprises retentate gases.
3 more elements
An apparatus to remove sulfur-containing compounds from a sulfur recovery unit (SRU) tail gas stream, the apparatus comprising:
- a) a sulfur-converting unit configured to produce a membrane feed;
- and
- b) a membrane unit fluidly connected to the converting unit, the membrane unit comprising an acid gas-selective membrane, wherein the membrane feed contacts a feed side of the acid gas-selective membrane such that the sulfur-containing compounds present in the membrane feed permeate through the acid gas-selective membrane to a permeate side, wherein the permeate side is swept with steam forming a sulfur rich stream, and wherein the heat used to produce the steam is sourced from the SRU boiler.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.