3/9/2013

s-Zorb (Conophillips)

Prepared by: Sadia Urooj Submitted to: Sir Zeeshan Zaki

UNIVERSITY OF KARACHI

SZorb (ConocoPhillips)
Introduction:
ConocoPhillips Company breakthrough technology, S Zorb Sulfur Removal Technology (SRT), substantially lowers the sulfur concentration in FCC gasoline while still protecting octane-rich olefins and aromatics. In the S Zorb process sulfur-containing molecules react with the novel S Zorb sorbent that retains the sulfur atom from the molecule while the hydrocarbon portion of the molecule is released back into the process stream. This unique reaction pathway does not generate free H2S; therefore, preventing recombination of hydrogen sulfide and olefins to form mercaptans. This technology was first demonstrated at the ConocoPhillips refinery in Borger, Texas, USA in April 2001 and a second commercial unit began operation in November 2003 and ConocoPhillips refinery in Ferndale, Washington, USA.

Overview of S Zorb Sulfur Removal Chemistry:

Application:
ConocoPhillips S Zorb SRT process can economically reduce the sulfur content of gasoline to less than 10 ppm with minimal octane loss, minimal hydrogen consumption and near zero volume loss. Hydrogen consumption is kept low by minimizing the extent of olefin saturation.
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Process Description:

Hydrocarbon is fed to a charge pump and is then mixed with the recycle hydrogen stream containing a small amount of makeup hydrogen. After hydrogen addition, the combined stream is passed through a feed effluent heat exchanger for vaporization and then to a fired heater to achieve the desired feed temperature. The vaporized feed is sent to the bottom of the reactor vessel containing a fluidized bed of the S Zorb sorbent. After passing through the sorbent bed, the hydrocarbon stream exits the top of the vessel through fines filters that remove any entrained sorbent. The desulfurized hydrocarbon product exits the reactor and proceeds through a series of heat recovery and cooling steps before entering the product separator for vapor/liquid separation. The vapor from the product separator is sent to the recycle compressor. Liquid from the product separator is passed through heat recovery and then fed to the stabilizer where light material, mainly hydrogen, is stripped out of the liquid product. The bottoms product from the stabilizer is cooled and sent to product blending.

Regeneration:
The sorbent (catalyst) is continuously withdrawn from the reactor and transferred to the regenerator section (2), where the sulphur is removed as SO2 and sent to a sulfur-recovery unit. The cleansed sorbent is reconditioned and returned to the reactor. The rate of sorbent circulation is controlled to help maintain the desired sulfur concentration in the product.
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Constraint Analysis:
At the inlet of reactor (from charge heater): The reactor temperature is a constraint that should be constant generally ranging from 750 to 825 oF.

At the inlet of regenerator: The oxygen content of the regenerator is another

constraint that needs to be limited to control the temperature rise in the regenerator. At the inlet of reactor (from regenerator): Since the regenerator temperatures are near 1000oF to convert metal sulphides into metal oxides, and SO2 is released, also carbon converts into CO2. So before the sorbent returns into the reactor, it should spend a short time in a reducing atmosphere near 750oF to reactivate the metals. This is another constraint. At the outlet of Stabilizer: The treated gasoline should have sulphur content less than 10 ppm is another constraint.

Operating Conditions:
Temperature, F Pressure, psig Space velocity, whsv Hydrogen purity, % Total H2 usage, scf / bbl 750 825 100 500 48 70 99 40 60

Process Patents (EP 1 448 294 B1): EP 1 448 294 B1 is the patent for
the process.

Economics:

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