Page 19 - Microsoft Word - Sulfo and Sulfa 1.doc

reactor. Even in the world's largest sulfonation plant (20,000 kg/hr active production),
this amounts to only about 100 kg of dilute SO gas. The sulfur burning process is much
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safer than transporting, storing and handling tank truck (18,000 kg) or rail car (72,000
kg) quantities of oleum or liquid SO . Sulfonation equipment based on liquid SO has
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become increasingly undesirable for the following reasons:

Figure 18. Dilute SO 3 Gas from Liquid SO 3

H 2 SO 4
Absorber
Heated Storage Room
Safety Relief

Dilute
SO 3 SO 3 SO 3 SO 3
Unloading Storage Metering Vaporizer Gaseous SO 3
Facility Tank System to Process

Air
Air Dryers Air Chiller
Compressor

Air Dryer
Regeneration
Heater

• Safety concerns
• Liquid SO is unavailable in many parts of the world
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• Sulfur is readily available worldwide

• Sulfur is relatively inexpensive

The remainder of this section, therefore, is confined to the description of a state of the art
sulfur burning, air/SO sulfonation plant.
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The basic plant package for a sulfur burning, air/SO sulfonation installation includes a
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sulfur supply system, air supply system, SO gas plant system, SO absorber system,
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sulfonator, neutralizer, effluent gas clean-up system, control system and motor control
center. This system is shown as a block diagram in Figure 19. You can add additional
equipment as required to manufacture specialty products, such as a hydrolyzer for alpha

Page 18 of 36 © 1997 The Chemithon Corporation