Abstract
Sulphur is a vital and essential by-product of sour gas processing. Smooth operation of Sulphur production/ handling facilities is a key for business continuity in gas processing industry. Sulphur (Solid) is a challenging material to handle due to its brittle nature and prone to breakage due to abrasion during transport, storage, and handling. Excessive dust generation poses a serious safety risk due to explosive nature of Sulphur dust. Despite various measures to collect and suppress Sulphur dust, it remains a potential source of fire and explosion hazards, as well as maintenance issues
Apart from other forms of Sulphur compound (H2S/SO2/SO3), elemental Sulphur itself in the form of yellow dust is also an environmental pollutant. Sulphur is transported mainly in solid form as liquid Sulphur transportation is a big hazard.
This study is based on experience from a Sulphur granulation and handling facility in an organization which produces and handles the liquid /granulated Sulphur at a very large scale with around 22000 TPD. During transport / storage / handling, due to breakage of Sulphur granules, huge dust is generated. Being air-borne, this Sulphur dust has a great potential of fire/explosion and serious HSE concern for organization considering safety as its top priority.
Considering above, strength of granulated Sulphur product is of utmost importance. This strength depends on polymeric content in Sulphur. Various old research used to recommend different operating parameters to increase and maintain the polymeric Sulphur content. One of the conventional approaches is to maintain high liquid Sulphur temperature during transportation and storage and cooling in Sulphur coolers just before solidification in granulation process through Granulators. Sulphur coolers and associated system are CAPEX intensive. This paper explores the possibility of eliminating the Sulphur coolers requirement to optimize the CAPEX.
