CFD modeling of H2S removal from liquid sulfur in a pilot-scale gas-liquid contactor

• Published in: Process safety and environmental protection Vol. 189; pp. 1246 - 1257
• Main Authors: Nie, Qianqian, Wang, Mengdie, Xie, Guangyuan, Tan, Zhongchao, Yu, Hesheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2024
• Subjects: Computational fluid dynamics; Degassing H2S; Gas-liquid contactor; Hydrogen sulfide; Liquid sulfur; Hydrogen sulfide; Liquid sulfur; Computational fluid dynamics; Gas-liquid contactor; Degassing H2S
• ISSN: 0957-5820
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psep.2024.07.007

Removal of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) from liquid sulfur is essential to product quality and safe operation in sulfur processing recovery. This paper presents computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models of sulfur degassing performance in a pilot-scale gas-liquid contactor. Two mass transfer models with and without considering the decomposition of hydrogen polysulfide (H2Sx) to H2S are established. They are then used to explore the effects of various operating parameters, including residence time, injected liquid sulfur flow rate, impeller type, and agitation speed, on degassing efficiency. Results show that the relative errors between calculation and experimental data are within ±6.2 %. Furthermore, the impeller geometry is optimized, and the efficiencies of three degasser shapes are compared using the verified CFD tool. The optimized impeller structure can increase degassing efficiency by about 9 % compared to the original one. The CFD model can be further improved to guide the design and scale-up of diverse H2S degassers. [Display omitted]