How to treat lean H2S gas from

gas sweetening plants

AMRUL ATIQI and ANNE METTE SRENSEN, Haldor Topsoe
The Senoro Upstream Gas Project is located in Central Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. It produces feed gas
for LNG production from the Donggi-Senoro project.
The Senoro facility has a total production capacity of 310
MMscfd of gas and 8.5 Mbpd of condensate. It is jointly
owned by MedcoEnergi, Pertamina and Tomori EP.
Haldor Topsoe's WSA technology has been chosen to
treat acid gases originating from the gas sweetening process at the production facility. The H2S in the gases, coming from both the acid gas removal unit (AGRU) and the
low-pressure fuel gas treatment unit, are converted into
commercial-grade sulfuric acid.

Challenges. Hurdles for the application of the WSA

technology include:
Stringent local emission regulations
Low H2S concentration of only
1.78 vol%2.33 vol%, and a gas
flow of 2,200 lbmole/h
High reliability and availability are needed for this
kind of project.

Evaluation. Job Tomori created a technology evaluation

model based on several criteria, namely:

It must be a proven, available, reliable technology
with many references
A technical feasible solution is required for very lean
H2S gases without concentrating
The simplicity of the process will bring down the
cost of maintenance and overall OPEX

Investment costs must be considered, since

concentration of the acid gas would be too expensive
Energy recovery must be sufficient to justify a steam
turbine
The market potential for sulfuric acid is more
diverse compared to sulfur.

Application. Based on these criteria, Job Tomori's

internal evaluation and a third-party evaluation performed
by an international engineering company, Haldor Topsoe's
WSA technology emerged as the optimal solution for
the gas sweetening project. The WSA solution included
several components:
A WSA plant (FIG. 1) that produces 45 tpd of
sulfuric acid
Production of 780 tpd of steam (433C, 28.5 barg),
allowing power production of 5.5 MW
Guaranteed minimum SO2 conversion of 97%.
The WSA plant will, in this single catalytic bed layout
(FIG. 2), convert a minimum of 97% of the sulfur and
produce 45 tpd of commercial-grade sulfuric acid, which
is sold on the local market. In addition, about 780 tpd of
superheated steam will be produced, and the steam will be
routed to a turbine to produce power.
To maximize the steam production in the WSA plant,
energy from the condensation of sulfuric acid is recovered in the form of hot air, most of which is supplied to
the combustor. The rest of the hot air is used for preheating the incoming boiler feedwater. This design makes
the plant extremely energy efficient due to the fact that
most of the heat is recovered back into
the process.
Advantages. The WSA process

converts H2S into sulfuric acid, while a

traditional Claus process produces elemental sulfur. Inherent advantages in the
WSA concept emerge when compared
with other technologies:
1. Higher energy efficiency.
Going from H2S to H2SO4
instead of stopping at elemental
sulfur is much more favorable
because of thermodynamics.
Due to the number of exothermic
reactions occurring in the WSA
process, approximately four
times the amount of steam
(of higher quality) is produced
when compared to the
conventional Claus process.

FIG. 1. The WSA plant produces 45 tpd of sulfuric acid.

Superheated steam to turbine

Hot air
Blower

Combustion air

Recommendations. The WSA process is a simple and

Stack gas

BFW

SO2
converter

Steam
drum

BFW
preheat

SSH

Blower
Gas
cooler

WSA
condenser

Acid gas
Raw LP fuel

Combustor

WHB
Acid cooler
CW
Product sulfuric acid

Air

efficient sulfur recovery process that meets the demands

of the industry for environmental compliance, low energy
usage and low overall operating costs. Sulfur in any form
is recovered as concentrated sulfuric acid of commercial
quality, and the energy released in the process is efficiently
recovered as high-pressure superheated steam.
The WSA technology can be applied in a variety of
industries, ranging from natural gas treatment and sulfur
recovery in oil refining to the fixation of SO2 gases in the
metallurgical industry.
Over the years, Haldor Topsoe has gained considerable
experience in the design and operation of WSA plants for
many different applications. Today, more than 130 WSA
plants have been licensed worldwide.

For more information about the latest technologies offered

by Haldor Topsoe, visit the exhibition #A354.

FIG. 2. Single catalytic bed layout for the WSA plant.

16Wednesday, 28 October 2015

2. Feed flexibility. The WSA process design

allows for very low H2S concentrations in the
feed gas. Furthermore, it is able to accommodate
significant changes in feed gas flow and
composition. This is mainly due to the fact
that, in the WSA process, there is a complete
combustion of the feed gases in the initial step,
while the Claus process may have a somewhat
more complex combustion that controls the H2Sto-SO2 ratio. It should be noted that, if significant
amounts of nitrogen-containing compounds
are present in the feed gas, a selective catalytic
reduction (SCR) reactor must be installed to
reduce NOx formed in combustion.
3. Catalysts. In a WSA plant, the combustion of
the feed gas takes place with a large surplus of
oxygen. Therefore, there is no risk of carbon
formation on the catalyst in the WSA process, as
can be the case for the Claus process, especially
when treating lean feeds or feeds containing
benzene, toluene and xylene (BTX). In a Claus
plant, carbon deposition can lead to unwanted
stoppage of the plant or insufficient sulfur yield.
4. Product. Sulfuric acid can, in many ways, be
a beneficial product compared to elemental
sulfur; however, this should be evaluated on
a case-by-case basis, taking local conditions
into consideration. Approximately 90% of all
elemental sulfur produced worldwide will be
further processed into sulfuric acid. Therefore,
it can be argued that going from H2S to sulfuric
acid in one stepcompared to a multistep
approach where elemental sulfur is produced as
an intermediateis more efficient
in many aspects. Moreover, sulfuric acid has
a broader market segment with users, such as
the fertilizer industry, steel industry, water
treatment sector, polymer industry, oil refining
sector, chemical industry, etc. In addition,
sulfur can liberate H2S, which can make
product handling troublesome.
5. Cost. A WSA plant typically will have lower
investment cost when compared with a
conventional plant equipped with a downstream
tail gas treatment unit (TGTU). This is due to the
simple WSA design, which includes relatively
few pieces of equipment. When considering
operating costs, the WSA technology also has
some important benefits. The large amount
of high-pressure steam produced in the WSA
process will have a positive impact on the
operating income. Finally, the relatively simple
design and operation of a WSA plant result
in lower operations and maintenance costs
compared to a more complex plant.

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