HYBRID SULFUR RECOVERY PROCESS FOR NATURAL GAS UPGRADING

This second quarter report of 2002 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 offshore applications. CrystaSulf (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. This report describes testing using the laboratory apparatus but operated at the pilot plant using the actual pilot plant gas, which contains far more contaminants than can be simulated in the laboratory. The results are very encouraging, with stable and efficient operation being obtained for a prolonged period of time