Kinetic Modeling and Optimization of Sulfur Recovery Reaction Furnace for Gas Refineries

In the Claus sulfur recovery units, the major part of hydrogen sulfide conversion to elemental sulfur takes place in the reaction furnace. A reaction furnace determines the effluent concentration of Claus process and influences the performance of downstream equipments. Consequently, understanding the reactions taking place in the reaction furnace has a critical role in the modeling and optimizing Claus process. In this study, an optimum reaction scheme was introduced for accurate modeling of the reaction furnaces using industrial data from refineries. Due to the presence of carbon disulfide in the reaction furnaces effluent of gas refineries, the formation reaction of this substance was investigated using three possible routes; moreover, the kinetic coefficients were reported. The results show that the model has reasonable precision in prediction of outlet concentration, so that the mean absolute percentage error was 9.90%. By applying the developed kinetic model and the reaction scheme, operating conditions of the reaction furnace of gas refineries were optimized.