Managing Hydrocarbons at Refinery Sulfur Recovery Facilities

摘要

Maintaining stable operations of the sulfur recovery facilities is a critical component for maintaining safe, environmentally compliant and profitable refinery performance. There are numerous sulfur plant parameters and issues that must be managed, but a stand out issue is the management of hydrocarbons at the sulfur block. With today's refining trends toward processing heavier crudes, managing the wide-variety of hydrocarbons that can be sent to the sulfur plant is become a greater challenge to the industry. This paper will reflect on this issue by discussing the equipment designs that are needed in the amine and sour water systems, the limitations of those designs and the additional management systems needed to properly handle the wide-spectrum of hydrocarbons that must be properly managed at the sulfur plant.