Refinery Amine, Sour Water & Sulphur

Recovery Unit (SRU) Process Simulation

Prepared By:
Tahir Syed, Process Engineer
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tahirsyed2/
hussaintahir123@yahoo.com
 Introduction
 Light Ends and Sour Water are produced from Refinery
Separation Units (Crude/Vacuum Distillation, and other
fractionators) & Reaction Units (FCC, Hydrocracker, Reformer,
Coker, Hydrotreater, etc.) are treated by Amine and Sour Water
Stripper Unit respectively
 Treated light ends are recycled back to the process while treated
sour water is used for desalting and can also be upgraded to
Boiler Feedwater quality or sent to wastewater treatment.
 The light ends from both the SWS and Amine unit are sent to
SRU for sulphur recovery and reduce sulphur emissions.
 This area in the refinery is as exciting as working on Separation
and Reaction units and developing working simulation skills is
worthwhile new design, operations troubleshooting & revamps.
Table of Contents
Amine Unit Simulation
Amine Data
Amine Problem Solution
Amine Unit PFD
Amine Stream Table
Amine Unit HYSYS Simulation Steps
Sour Water Stripper Unit Simulation
SWS Data
SWS Process Flow Diagram
SWS Stream Table
SWS Unit HYSYS Simulation Steps
Sulphur Recovery Unit Simulation
SRU Problem Statement
SRU Process Flow Diagram
SRU Simulation Results
Claus Plant Reactions
SRU Simulation Steps
Combustion Air to Furnace
SRU Plant Configuration
Sulphur Recovery Efficiency
Waste Heat Boiler
SWS Feed Lineup
SRU Simulations-Detailed
Sulphur Species
Combined Amine, SWS, SRU Simulation
HYSYS SRU Templates
Amine Unit Simulation

The data source is DEA Example E15.6 from the

book “Fundamentals of Petroleum Refining”. The
problem is solved using UNISIM but we can
emulate the steps to develop this simulation in
HYSYS.
Amine Data
Amine Problem Solution
Amine Unit PFD
Amine Stream Table
Amine Unit HYSYS Simulation Steps
Please follow the steps from Youtube tutorial to
emulate results in Table E 15.6.2
“1-Gas Processing - Amine Sweetening Process
with Aspen HYSYS 7.3”

The links for Amine Unit Simulation is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr_5gXkO9UY
Sour Water Stripper Unit Simulation

The data source is SWS Example E17.14 from

the book “Fundamentals of Petroleum
Refining”. The problem is solved using UNISIM
but we can emulate the steps to develop this
simulation in HYSYS.
SWS Data
SWS Process Flow Diagram
SWS Stream Table
SWS Unit HYSYS Simulation Steps
Please follow the steps from Youtube tutorial to emulate
Table E14.17
“Sour Water Stripper Simulation” for short simulation and
“7-Refining Processes - Sour water Stripping Unit -
Aspen HYSYS 7.3” for detailed.

The links for Sour Water Unit Simulation are:

 Simplified
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5dsROBbxv4

 Detailed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8Z_aaPmA1M
Sulphur Recovery Unit Simulation

The data source is SRU Example E15.11 from

the book “Fundamentals of Petroleum Refining”.
The problem is solved using UNISIM but we can
emulate the steps to develop this simulation in
HYSYS using standard Object Palette.
SRU Problem Statement
SRU Process Flow Diagram
SRU Simulation Results
Claus Plant Reactions
SRU Simulation Steps
 Enter the Properties Environment.
 Add Feed Stream Components As Per Table E15.11, Page
395. Select S1_Vapor and S_Amorphous for Sulphur. “S1
Vapor” component will be used in the thermal stage
reactions while S_Amorphous will be used for Catalytic
stages. Alternatively, “S1 Vapor” can be tried for both
thermal & catalytic stages.
 Select Peng Robinson as the Fluid Package.
SRU Simulation Steps
 Add Furnace or Thermal Stage Reactions 15.21
and 15.22 as one set. Rank 15.21 as 1 and 15.22
as rank 0. Enter conversion (Co) = 100.
 Add Converter or Catalytic Stage reaction
(15.23) as a separate set. Enter conversion (Co)
= 100.
Note: Tweak Converter/Furnace reaction
conversion given above to match the results in
the presentation.
SRU Simulation Steps
 Enter the Simulation Environment
 Activate Standard HYSYS Object Palette.
 Set up Feed and Air Streams as per given data.
 Add Furnace as a Conversion Reactor. Attach Air and Feed
Streams. Select Set 1 for Reactions.
 Connect the effluent stream from the Furnace to the tube
side of the waste heat boiler which is modeled as a Shell
and Tube Heat Exchanger with Boiler feedwater stream on
the shell side.
SRU Simulation Steps
 Route the cooled stream from the Waste Heat
Boiler. Cool the gases in the WHB between 300 to
330 degC
 Flash it in 2-phase separation vertical vessel.
 Send vapor to Shell & Tube HX with boiler feed
water on shell side to condense sulphur at 135
degC. This should recover 201 kgmole/hr sulphur.
 It will then be flashed again to separate sulphur
and vapor phase.
 The vapor phase will be reheated to the required
temperature as per mentioned in the table E15.11
before being fed to the Catalytic converters.
SRU Simulation Steps
 Add Catalytic Converter as a Conversion Reactor
and select Reaction 15.23. Also add an Energy
stream and outlet temperature of 171 deg C.
 Tweak conversion to match the outlet Sulphur
stream as per table E15.11.
 Add subsequent Catalytic Converters and Heater
same as above.
 Sum up bottom streams from the three converters
and from sulphur condenser to find total Sulphur
produced (2516 kgmoles/hr i.e. 2010 kgmoles/hr
sulphur+506 kgmoles/hr water).
Combustion Air to Furnace
 The amount of H2S in feed is 2010 kgmoles/h.
Therefore, oxygen required for 1/3 rd H2S combustion
to SO2 =(1/3)*(3/2)*2010=1005 kgmoles/h, then air
=1005/.21= 4786 kgmoles/hr, so Nitrogen is 4786-
1005=3781 kgmoles/h. Similarly, oxygen required for
the combustion of Ammonia and Hydrocarbons will
also be estimated as needed. In this project,
hydrocarbons getting destructed in the Incinerator and
not in the furnace. Refer to GPSA Section 22-Sulphur
Recovery, Example 22-1 for hydrocarbon combustion
air requirement calculation.
SRU Plant Configuration
 Plant configuration is according to the FIG. 22-6
of GPSA Databook which suggests for 20-55%
H2S in the acid gas feed the process scheme to
be a Straight-through or straight-through with acid
gas and/or air preheat. In this case air is
preheated to 118 degC as there is 40.2 Mole%
H2S in the feed to Claus Plant.
Sulphur Recovery Efficiency
 The table E15.11 shows 2516 kgmoles/h total sulphur
production which also contains around 506 kgmoles
of water which gives around 2010 kgmoles/h
of Sulphur. Please note that there is 2010 kgmoles/h
in the feed as H2S. The book has rightly mentioned
2516 kgmoles/h because that is sulphur to be handled
in sulphur degassing, granulation, etc. Also, the book
has mentioned that all H2S and SO2 has to be
converted so a figure closer to 2010 kgmoles/h is fine.
Generally, we are okay with 95% sulphur recovery so
we can tweak conversion in the converters
accordingly.
Waste Heat Boiler
 Waste Heat Boiler downstream front end furnace can
be designed for HP, MP or LP Steam by modifying
shell side outlet pressure. Resulting temperature can
be verified from Steam Tables. Steam Produced can
be used in SWS, Amine Re-boilers and SRU Pre-
Converter Re-Heaters and other users. Total boiler
feed water requirements and steam generation /
consumption can be estimated by this simulation.
SWS Feed Lineup
 Sour Water Stripper gases having NH3 can also be
lined up by adding an additional reaction to Furnace
reaction set as 2 NH3 + 3/2 O2 → N2 + 3 H2O and
couple of other reactions. Ideally, ammonia must be
fully destroyed in the furnace but an outlet temp of
around 1250 deg C has to be maintained.
Furthermore, combustion air requirements will be
recalculated for NH3, H2S, Fuel Gas, etc.
 Use References on Slide: 30 to identify the reactions.
 Watch Youtube Video: The Experts Network:
Processing Ammonia in Sulphur Plants.
Link: https://youtu.be/Mu1zEYsxSfA
 SRU Simulations-Detailed
(1) Add more reactions to the reaction furnace as mentioned in
"Kinetic modeling of a modified Claus Reaction Furnace" thesis
by Aaron Pollock Ellsworth. Also, there are other useful theses
available on this link, including the one by Hawboldt, Kelly Anne
N., . These theses discuss furnace reactions related to
Amine/SWS SRU feeds. The link is prism.ucalgary.ca,
University of Calgary, Prism Library. These reactions will be
added as Conversion reactions to the Furnace reaction set and
conversion will be adjusted to match Sulsim template results.
(2) SulphurPro simulator manual at ogtrt.com.
(3) GPSA Section 22 for Sulphur Species formation. COS, CS2
formation and destruction. The GPSA problem 22-1 can be
solved by using DESIGN II simulation package as well, both for 3
and 8 Sulphur species. There is a solved example for each case
included in the DESIGN II library (winsim.com).
Sulphur Species
 GPSA Section 22 has a worked example which takes
into account Sulphur allotropes (S2, S3......S8) formed
in the reaction furnace/converters. We can use GPSA
example to estimate the Sulphur allotropes. Their
molecular weights are in the order of 32, 64,
96.....Refer to GPSA Fig. 22-21 for Distribution of
Sulfur Vapor Species based on temperature.
Combined Amine, SWS, SRU
Simulation

Amine (DEA)
Unit
Sulphur
Recovery Unit
(SRU)
Sour Water
Stripper (SWS)
Unit
 HYSYS SRU Templates
 More robust SRU templates (SULSIM) are available
with HYSYS using Sulphur Recovery fluid package
and a dedicated model palette as well as other
features. The template “3 Stage Claus Unit with
Incinerator” can be used to check Example E15.11
simulation. There is another template for Sour Water
Stripper Gas. Also, GPSA Example 22-1 is a handy
solution.
DISCLAIMER
 This presentation is intended for personal
learning only. A thorough review with technology
suppliers on case by case basis is recommended
for practical applications.
Thank you