US 4,966,757 AGranted

Sulfur dioxide generator

OwnerRichard A. J. Lewis, Donald C. Forbushinventors

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Abstract

An improved apparatus for burning sulfur to sulfur dioxide and generating sulfurous acid comprising a primary sulfur-burning chamber, a sulfur feed tank closely coupled to the primary chamber, a secondary sulfur burning chamber, and an absorption tower, Air is drawn into the primary chamber under turbulent, high velocity negative pressure conditions. Gas passes through the secondary chamber under turbulent negative pressure flow conditions. The apparatus is capable of converting sulfur to sulfur dioxide at a rate in excess of 25 pounds of sulfur per hour per square foot of surface area of the molten pool of sulfur in the primary chamber.

Claims18

Dependent claims

In an apparatus for burning sulfur with oxygen containing air comprising:

a primary sulfur-burning chamber defined by an enclosure with a gas outlet, said enclosure holding a pool of molten sulfur therein, a sulfur inlet at a first, lower elevation of the enclosure for feed of sulfur into the primary sulfur-burning chamber, and having:
ignition means positioned to contact the sulfur within the primary sulfur-burning chamber to ignite and start the exothermic sulfur combustion reaction within said primary sulfur-burning chamber;
and
a primary air inlet positioned in the enclosure so that air will flow in a tangential direction at a second, relatively higher elevation of the enclosure above the sulfur inlet for introduction of air tangentially into the primary sulfur-burning chamber to introduce a substantial amount of air used for burning and vaporizing the sulfur supplied thereto to form an effluent gas containing sulfur, sulfur dioxide, and oxygen;
a sulfur feed tank for supplying sulfur to the primary sulfur-burning chamber, the sulfur feed tank being adapted to receive heat from the primary sulfur-burning chamber for the melting of sulfur in the sulfur feed tank;
a conduit leading from the sulfur feed tank to the sulfur inlet for transferring sulfur from the sulfur feed tank to the primary sulfur-burning chamber, the cross-sectional area of the conduit from the tank being sized to allow sufficient sulfur into the burning chamber to supply the optimal burning rate, while providing sufficient flow resistance to the sulfur to prevent the primary burning chamber from entirely filling with sulfur;
a secondary sulfur-burning chamber having
a gas inlet in communication with the gas outlet from the primary sulfur-burning chamber enclosure at a first end of the sulfur-burning chamber to receive effluent gas containing sulfur, sulfur dioxide, and oxygen discharged from the gas outlet of the primary sulfur-burning chamber, and
a secondary air inlet proximate the first end of said secondary sulfur-burning chamber to allow desired amounts of oxygen-containing gas to enter the secondary sulfur-burning chamber;
means defining a tortuous flow path of said secondary sulfur-burning chamber for causing turbulent flow of gas passing therethrough for combustion with the secondary air of substantially all of the sulfur in the effluent gas to sulfur dioxide;
a gas outlet at a second end of said secondary sulfur-burning chamber to transmit burned gases out of the secondary sulfur-burning chamber, wherein the improvement comprises:
negative pressure means operably connected to the primary and secondary sulfur-burning chambers for creating negative pressure within the primary and secondary sulfur-burning chambers to draw in desired amounts of oxygen-containing gas into said chambers through the first and secondary air inlets;
and
means connected to the secondary air inlet to variably control the amount of air drawn through the secondary air inlet, thereby controlling the amount of oxygen-containing air entering the primary and secondary sulfur-burning chambers in response to a pH measurement.

11 more elements

In an apparatus for generating sulfurous acid comprising:

a primary sulfur-burning chamber defined by an enclosure with a gas outlet, said enclosure holding a pool of molten sulfur therein, a sulfur inlet at a first, lower elevation of the enclosure for feed of sulfur thereto, and having:
ignition means positioned to contact the molten sulfur within the primary sulfur-burning chamber to ignite and start the exothermic sulfur combustion reaction within said primary sulfur-burning chamber;
and
a primary air inlet positioned in the enclosure so that air will flow in a tangential direction at a second, relatively higher elevation of the enclosure above the sulfur inlet for introduction of air tangentially into the primary sulfur-burning chamber to introduce substantially all of the air used for burning and vaporizing the sulfur supplied thereto to form an effluent gas containing sulfur, sulfur dioxide, and oxygen;
a sulfur feed tank for supplying sulfur to the primary sulfur-burning chamber, the sulfur feed tank being adapted to receive heat from the primary sulfur-burning chamber for the melting of sulfur in the sulfur feed tank;
a conduit leading from the sulfur feed tank to the sulfur inlet for transferring sulfur from the sulfur feed tank to the primary sulfur-burning chamber, the cross-sectional area of the conduit from the tank being sized to allow sufficient sulfur into the burning chamber to supply the optimal burning rate, while providing sufficient flow resistance to the sulfur to prevent the primary sulfur-burning chamber from entirely filling with sulfur;
a secondary sulfur-burning chamber having:
a gas inlet in communication with the gas outlet from the primary sulfur-burning chamber enclosure at a first end of the secondary sulfur-burning chamber to receive effluent gas containing sulfur, sulfur dioxide, and oxygen discharged from the gas outlet of the primary sulfur-burning chamber, and
a secondary air inlet proximate the first end of said secondary sulfur-burning chamber to allow desired amounts of oxygen-containing gas to enter the secondary sulfur-burning chamber;
means defining a tortuous flow path of said secondary sulfur-burning chamber for causing turbulent flow of gas passing therethrough for combustion with the secondary air of substantially all of the sulfur in the effluent gas to sulfur dioxide;
a gas outlet at a second end of said secondary sulfur-burning chamber to transmit burned gases out of the secondary sulfur-burning chamber;
negative pressure means operably connected to the primary and secondary sulfur-burning chambers for creating negative pressure within the primary and secondary sulfur-burning chambers to draw in desired amounts of oxygen-containing gas into said chambers through the primary and secondary air inlets;
means connected to the secondary air inlet to variably control the amount of air drawn through the secondary air inlet, thereby controlling the amount of oxygen-containing air entering the primary and secondary sulfur burning chambers in response to a pH measurement;
a sulfur dioxide absorption tower having a water inlet at the top thereof and a gas inlet at the bottom thereof for countercurrent flow of gas and water therein;
a conduit between the gas inlet of the absorption tower and the outlet of the secondary sulfur-burning chamber;
and
means for introducing water to the absorption tower at the water inlet.

14 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

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Abstract

In an apparatus for burning sulfur with oxygen containing air comprising:

a primary sulfur-burning chamber defined by an enclosure with a gas outlet, said enclosure holding a pool of molten sulfur therein, a sulfur inlet at a first, lower elevation of the enclosure for feed of sulfur into the primary sulfur-burning chamber, and having:
ignition means positioned to contact the sulfur within the primary sulfur-burning chamber to ignite and start the exothermic sulfur combustion reaction within said primary sulfur-burning chamber;
and
a primary air inlet positioned in the enclosure so that air will flow in a tangential direction at a second, relatively higher elevation of the enclosure above the sulfur inlet for introduction of air tangentially into the primary sulfur-burning chamber to introduce a substantial amount of air used for burning and vaporizing the sulfur supplied thereto to form an effluent gas containing sulfur, sulfur dioxide, and oxygen;
a sulfur feed tank for supplying sulfur to the primary sulfur-burning chamber, the sulfur feed tank being adapted to receive heat from the primary sulfur-burning chamber for the melting of sulfur in the sulfur feed tank;
a conduit leading from the sulfur feed tank to the sulfur inlet for transferring sulfur from the sulfur feed tank to the primary sulfur-burning chamber, the cross-sectional area of the conduit from the tank being sized to allow sufficient sulfur into the burning chamber to supply the optimal burning rate, while providing sufficient flow resistance to the sulfur to prevent the primary burning chamber from entirely filling with sulfur;
a secondary sulfur-burning chamber having
a gas inlet in communication with the gas outlet from the primary sulfur-burning chamber enclosure at a first end of the sulfur-burning chamber to receive effluent gas containing sulfur, sulfur dioxide, and oxygen discharged from the gas outlet of the primary sulfur-burning chamber, and
a secondary air inlet proximate the first end of said secondary sulfur-burning chamber to allow desired amounts of oxygen-containing gas to enter the secondary sulfur-burning chamber;
means defining a tortuous flow path of said secondary sulfur-burning chamber for causing turbulent flow of gas passing therethrough for combustion with the secondary air of substantially all of the sulfur in the effluent gas to sulfur dioxide;
a gas outlet at a second end of said secondary sulfur-burning chamber to transmit burned gases out of the secondary sulfur-burning chamber, wherein the improvement comprises:
negative pressure means operably connected to the primary and secondary sulfur-burning chambers for creating negative pressure within the primary and secondary sulfur-burning chambers to draw in desired amounts of oxygen-containing gas into said chambers through the first and secondary air inlets;
and
means connected to the secondary air inlet to variably control the amount of air drawn through the secondary air inlet, thereby controlling the amount of oxygen-containing air entering the primary and secondary sulfur-burning chambers in response to a pH measurement.

11 more elements