SULFOX Technology

Efficient and sustainable process to clean

sulfurous off-gas producing sulfuric acid

SULFOX Technology
The SULFOX Technology is an innovative wet process to produce sulfuric acid from offgas containing sulfur
bearing-compounds. Developed by Kanzler Verfahrenstechnik Gesellschaft m.b.h. (KVT) the first plant was
in operation for a viscose production company in 1992. In 2012 MECS DuPont Sustainable Solutions,
already a succesfull joint venture partner of KVT since 2009, acquired the intellectual property and
technology related to Sulfox process.

In a world where the ecological topics need to be integrated

with efficiency and profitability the SULFOX process
technology find his place: sustainability with guaranteed
low emissions goes together with the economical
opportunity.
During the last 20 years, SULFOX found application in large
fields of business.
KVT together with MECS DuPont, can provide complete
plants for a wide range of gas concentration and
compositions.
SULFOX technologies find application in following markets:
Refineries & Petro-chemical Industry (SRU)
- After the Gas Sweetening Unit based on
amine wash system
- After Sulfur Burner in sulfuric acid
production plants

SULFURIC ACID in brief

Description: sulfuric acid is the most widely used and

consumed inorganic acid. Pure sulfuric acid is a highly

corrosive, colorless, viscous liquid.
Market: the average growth rates in consumption are
at 3-4% per year. The consumption is an indicator of
the development of chemical industry in a country.
Production: Today there is practically only the contact
process from sulfur, oxygen and water.
Raw material: The sulfur dioxide used in the sulfuric
acid plant coming from:
- Combustion of elemental sulfur (80-90% of sulfur is
used for sulfuric acid production)
- Roasting gases from sulfide ores (pyrite as sulfur
source for this purpose removed intentionally)
- As a by-product from the smelting of copper ore,
zinc and lead ores, and others such as Ni, V, Mo.
- Sulfate cleavage of sulfates or waste sulfuric acid

- Spent acid regeneration after the alkylation

phase that use sulfuric acid
Coal based Fertilizer and Chemical Industry (Syngas SRU)
Cokes Manufacturing
- Coke oven gas treatment
Non-Ferro Metallurgical Industry (Mo, Pb)
- Off-gas treatment coming from metal roasters
Power Industry
- Off-gas coming from sulfur recovering unit for
burning pet coke
- In the Sulfur Recovery Unit in IGCC Plant
Viscose Industry
- Off-gas coming from the spin bath unit and from
spinning machine as well as from the CS2 production
plant that can be linked to the viscose production
plant.
Natural Gas Processing
- Treatment of acid gas coming from the sour gas
sweetening unit
- Tail gas treatment of Claus Process

HO
S
HO

Applications:

- Digestion of phosphate rock and phosphoric acid

for fertilizer production
- Production of ammonium sulfate fertilizer
- Ore leaching (Cu, U, Molybdenum,..)
- Pickling of metals
- Disruption of titanium ore
- Electrolysis
- Battery acid
- Inorganic chemicals (aluminum sulfate, barium
sulfate, silica gel ...)
- Production of hydrofluoric acid from fluorspar
- Production of caprolactam
- Acid refining of petroleum fractions
- Alkylation of olefins (propylene, butylene) with
isobutane
- Production of cellulose by the sulfate (73%
worldwide) - or sulfite (6% worldwide)
- Reagent in organic chemistry (nitration,
esterification,...)

Process Description
The Sulfox Process is a Customized Highly Energy Efficient
Technology used for cleaning wet waste gases (no
preceding drying step process is required) containing
sulfur compounds that produces a saleable product:
sulfuric acid.

The process is based on the Catalytic or the combination of

Thermal and Catalytic Oxidation of sulfurbearing
compounds into sulfuric acid. It is able to handle
contaminants such us SO2, H2S, COS or CS2, at a wide
range concentration.
1 The off-gas passes over the Gas Conditioning System
that can be a prefilter, a scrubber, Dryf-Fil Hot Gas Filter or a
preheater (KVT exclusive) depending on the raw gas
compositions and concentrations.

For low concentration (with a low calorific value of the gas)

in order to reach the operating temperature of the catalyst
the gas stream needs a preheating. The preheating is part
of the Gas Conditioning System and is done in the Heat
Recovery System that recovers the excess heat from the
reactor and from condensation column.
The gas passes over the reactor with multi-beds catalysts
where the Catalytic Oxidation of sulfur compounds to SO3
takes place.
For high sulfur compounds concentrations the first step is
done with a combustion chamber where the Thermal
Oxidation to SO2 takes place. In order to reach the
operating temperature of the catalysts the gas stream is
cooled passing a steam generator.

The steam generator ( Waste Heat Boiler) is part of the Heat

Recovery System that recovers the excess heat after the
combustion chamber as well as from the reactor and from
the condensation colum .
2 The gas passes over the reactor with multi-beds
catalysts where the Catalytic Oxidation of sulfur
compounds to SO3 takes place.

Afterwards SO3 reacts with water vapor to form gaseous

sulfuric acid. The Heat Recovery System removes heat from
the exothermic reaction of SO2 and further cools the gas in
output.
3 In the condensation column (exclusive process
design KVT) the Acid Condensation takes place. The
concentrated sulfuric acid is collected in the bottom of the
column, cooled in the acid cooler and stored in the sulfuric
acid tank.
4 The gas leaving the condensation column still
contains sulfuric acid aerosol. With the Wet Electrostatic
Precipitator (WESP) the aerosol is precipitated. The low
concentrated acid is collected in the bottom of the WESP
and is injected into the top of the condensation column to
get highly concentrated acid.
5 A second reactor stage increases the sulfur oxidation
efficiency up to 99,8% and recovery of sulfur as 97% sulfuric
acid.

The tail gas complying with the current international

emissions regulations is discharged to the atmosphere
through the main stack.

SULFOX

Clean Tail
Gas

Waste Gas
Treatment

Aerosol
Separation

Off-gas

Gas
conditioning

Catalytic/
Thermal and Catalytic
Oxidation

Heat Recovery

Acid
Condensation

Sulfuric
Acid

Steam

SULFOX NK

Clean Tail
Gas

Waste Gas
Tratment

Aerosol
Separation

Off-gas

Filtration

Catalytic
Oxidation

Preheating

Acid
Condensation

Sulfuric
Acid

Heat Recovery
System

Which SULFOX is suitable for me?

The type of SULFOX technology to be used is dictated from

gas processing, power industry, metallurgical industry.

the off gas sulfur compounds concentration and customers

SULFOX HK

requirements.
SULFOX NK
For lean H2S and SO2 gas feed (6g/Nm3

H2S/ CS2

14g/Nm3 or SO2 100g/Nm3) SULFOX NK is used. In the

reactor proprietary Tardigrad catalysts provide the catalytic
conversion of H2S, CS2 or SO2.
For concentrations below the autothermal condition
(H2S/CS2< 6g/Nm3) the raw gas is added with natural gas.
For concentrations above the range the gas stream is diluted
with ambient air.
Thanks to the Waste Gas Treatment SO2 emissions below
100mg/Nm3 are achieved.
SULFOX NK applications are in the viscose industry, natural

For concentrated H2S gas feed (H2S/CS2 60g/m3; SO2

125g/m3) SULFOX HK is used. The process is equipped with a
combustion chamber for the thermal oxidation of sulfur
compounds and for the sulfur combustion if a certain
quantity of Sulfuric acid is required.
The Heat Recovery System is equipped with a proper Waste
Heat Boiler in order to recovers the excess heat after the
combustion chamber, from the reactor and from the
condensation column.
Thanks to the Waste Gas Treatment the SO2 emissions can
be kept below 200mg/Nm3.
SULFOX HK is used often in the refineries, steel industry,
power industry.

SULFOX HK

Clean Tail
Gas

Waste Gas
Tratment

Aerosol
Separation

Off-gas

Thermal
Oxidation

Heat Recovery
System

Waste Heat
Boiler

Steam

SO2
Oxidation

Acid
Condensation

Sulfuric
Acid

Gas Cleaning System

Aerosol
Combustion

Spent Acid +
Natural Gas

Hot Gas
Filtration

Sulfuric
Acid

SULFOX HK

Heat Recovery
System

Waste Heat Boiler

SULFOX SAR

Steam

Off-gasses containing dust and/or other impurities an

additional Gas Cleaning System is required.
Different options of Gas Cleaning System dictate further
options of SULFOX technology.
SULFOX SAR ( Spent Acid Regeneration)
The spent acid with the fuel gas is fed into a special designed
Combustion Chamber to form SO2. The acid together with
fuel gas is fed into the burner through compressed air and
ultrasonic nebulisation. For special applications there is the
possibility to use H2S gas or S feed instead of fuel to reduce
energy cost.
In order to remove the solid impurity from the SO2 gas
stream, after the Combustion Chamber a Hot Gas Filter (DryFil KVT exclusive) is required.
After the Hot Gas Filter the gas Stream is treated with a
SULFOX HK plant where the convertion of SO2 to SO3 and
then the hydrolisis to sulfuric acid take place.
In order to comply with the current international emissions
regulations a further Waste Gas Treatment is required. Then
the clean gas is discharged to the atmosphere through the
main stack
SULFOX SAR is used in petrochemical industries for Spent
Acid and Sulfate Regeneration.

SULFOX MET
For wide range of SO2 feed gas (as per SULFOX NK
technology) containing also dust, SULFOX MET is used.
Depending on the dust concentration and composition,
different Gas Cleaning Systems are required.
SULFOX MET is used in the metallurgical industry to treat
roast gas with dust concentration up to180g/Nm3.
The roast gas leaving the furnace is cooled to 400C 600C.
The physical properties of the dust dictate the cleaning
technology to be used:
For free-flowing dust the gas stream is treated with a dry
process. The cooled gas passes over the cyclone where the
particulate are removed, then the gas passes over the Dry-Fil,
Hot Gas Filter (KVT Exclusive) for a further filtration and after
that is treated with the SULFOX NK plant.
For Not free-flowing dust the gas stream is treated with a
wet process. The cooled gas passes over the scrubber where
the particulate is removed, then the gas passes over the
WESP Wet Electrostatic Precipitator (KVT Exclusive) for a
further cleaning and followed by the SULFOX NK plant.
In order to comply with the current international emissions
regulations a further Waste Gas Treatment is required. A
scrubber or active carbon filter is used depending on the
design requirements. The clean gas is discharged to the
atmosphere through the main stack.

SULFOX MET

Gas Cleaning System

Wet Condition

WESP

SULFOX NK

Sulfuric
Sulfuric
Acid
Acid

Hot Gas Filter

SULFOX NK

Sulfuric
Sulfuric
Acid
Acid

Scrubber
No

Off-gas
with
Dust

Free-Flowing
Dust
Gas Cleaning System

Yes

Cyclon
Dry Condition

Your Advantages at Glance

Robust, High Quality Acid Condensation Column

High Efficient Heat Recovery System

The acid condensation column is based on a KVT proprietary

proved design. The heat exchangers are equipped with short
horizontal glass tube which ensures reliability, high onstream time and low maintenance costs.

The heat recovery system is designed with compact finned

tubes using a fluid as heat transfer to achieve the maximum
heat recovery. Due to the exclusive design the excess heat is
recovered both from the reactor and from the condensation
column in order to re-use it efficiently in the process. The
result is an optimized energy management with relative cost
saving if compared to the similar alternative processes.

The column is made of PFA lined stainless steel support

structure and PFA tube sheet that guarantee both tight
sealing and compensation for thermal expansion, resulting in
zero acid leaks to the cooling side.
The horizontal tube arrangement provides an easy and safe
access for inspection.
Guaranteed Low SO2 Emission and High Sulfur Oxidation
Efficiency
The high overall conversion of SO2 is achieved using special
vanadium catalyst designed for wet application.
For H2S and of SO2 at low concentration the high overall
conversion of is achieved using Tardigrade, a noble metal
based catalyst, that can work with a wide range temperature
(250-600 C) and low pressure drop.
When required, an additional tail gas reactor can ensure
sulfur oxidation efficiency up to 99,8% and recovery of
sulfur compounds as 97% sulfuric acid.

Guaranteed Low Acid Mist Emission

The Wet Electrostatic precipitation (WESP) removes the
sulfuric acid aerosol that forms during the condensation
phase in the condensation column. The low acid mist
emission is controlled complying with the environment
regulation.
Simple Automated Operation
Sulfox plants are very easily operated. The automation design
requires very low operators working time.
Compact , Modular Construction
Sulfox Plants have a compact design with modular parts that
means easy installations and easy integration into existing
industrial plants.

Kanzler Verfahrenstechnik
Gesellschaft m.b.H
Stiftingtalstrasse 165 c
8010 Graz - Austria

E-mail: info@kanzler-vt.at
Phone: +43 (316) 3214 04-0
Fax:
+43 (316) 3214 04-22
www.kanzler-vt.at