17-07-2017

Chinese Petroleum Corporation selects MECS® DynaWave® scrubbing system

The Chinese Petroleum Corporation awarded DuPont Clean Technologies the contract to supply the technology license, engineering and proprietary equipment for a MECS® DynaWave® wet gas scrubbing unit to be installed at its Taoyuan refinery in Taiwan in August 2015. This scrubbing system has recently gone into operation for two sulfur recovery units (SRUs) at the site, in time for CPC to comply with strict emissions reduction regulations.

In the past, seven to eight days were required after turnaround of the SRUs at the CPC refinery before acid gas could be fed to the units and commence normal operation. As a result, off-gas from the catalyst would be released directly to the stack and into the air, causing environmental issues. CPC researched different solutions to resolve these issues, and finally opted for the MECS® DynaWave® scrubber, a scrubbing technology licensed by DuPont.

“CPC chose the DynaWave® scrubber for the high reliability of its outlet gas emissions when inlet gas SO2 concentration varies,” explained William Lam, senior business development manager, Taiwan and Japan. “This means there is no need to adjust DynaWave® equipment such as valves or pumps in order to meet strict emissions targets. The SO2 removal efficiency of DynaWave® turns an average of 10,000 ppmv SO2 at the inlet into a guaranteed outlet of less than 50 ppmv SO2.” At startup, CPC technical teams measured only 10 ppmv SO2 at the stack outlet.

“Two 2-stage Claus units in the SRU2 and SRU3 at the Taoyuan refinery will be treated in a single DynaWave® scrubber,” said Lam. The SRUs have a capacity of 100 tons/day (SRU2) and 200 tons/day (SRU3), respectively.

Licensed by DuPont, MECS® DynaWave® scrubbers are designed to work with a variety of reagents and handle multiple functions in one vessel. As such, the process makes it possible to quench the incinerated gas and remove potential particulates while absorbing the remaining acids from the Claus TGTUs. The technology also offers the flexibility of bypassing the SRU or the SRU tail gas system during maintenance and repairs, so operations can continue without interruption.

Over the last 40 years, the MECS® DynaWave® technology has been successfully installed and used at more than 400 sites around the world in different industries. In the oil and gas industry alone, DuPont Clean Technologies, which licenses both the DynaWave® scrubber technology and the BELCO® EDV® scrubber technology, has more than 150 successful wet scrubbing references around the globe. The large nozzles and open vessel design of the DynaWave® scrubbers result in units that are virtually plug proof and able to handle any possible sulfur particulate entrainment. This results in higher on-stream time, lower maintenance and operational expenditures for the operator.