HYBRID SULFUR RECOVERY PROCESS FOR NATURAL GAS UPGRADING

This second quarter report of 2003 describes progress on a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to test a hybrid sulfur recovery process for natural gas upgrading. The process concept represents a low cost option for direct treatment of natural gas streams to remove H{sub 2}S in quantities equivalent to 0.2-25 metric tons (LT) of sulfur per day. This process is projected to have lower capital and operating costs than the competing technologies, amine/aqueous iron liquid redox and amine/Claus/tail gas treating, and have a smaller plant footprint, making it well suited to both on-shore and off-shore applications. CrystaSulf{reg_sign} (service mark of CrystaTech, Inc.) is a new nonaqueous sulfur recovery process that removes hydrogen sulfide (H{sub 2}S) from gas streams and converts it into elemental sulfur. CrystaSulf features high sulfur recovery similar to aqueous-iron liquid redox sulfur recovery processes, but differs from the aqueous processes in that CrystaSulf controls the location where elemental sulfur particles are formed. In the hybrid process, approximately 1/3 of the total H{sub 2}S in the natural gas is first oxidized to SO{sub 2} at low temperatures over a heterogeneous catalyst. Low temperature oxidation is done so that the H{sub 2}S can be oxidized in the presence of methane and other hydrocarbons without oxidation of the hydrocarbons. The project involves the development of a catalyst using laboratory/bench-scale catalyst testing, and then demonstration of the catalyst at CrystaTech's pilot plant in west Texas. Previous reports described development of a catalyst with the required selectivity and efficiency for producing sulfur dioxide from H{sub 2}S. In the laboratory, the catalyst was shown to be robust and stable in the presence of several intentionally added contaminants, including condensate from the pilot plant site. Bench-scale catalyst testing at the CrystaSulf pilot plant using the actual pilot plant gas was successful, and a skid-mounted catalyst pilot unit has been designed for fabrication and testing at the CrystaSulf pilot site