A method and a system to form hydrogen while removing sulfur from an acid gas stream are provided. An exemplary system includes a reaction furnace including a porous burner, an inlet for an oxygen stream into the porous burner, an inlet for the acid gas stream into the porous burner, and a plurality of inlets on the reaction furnace for injecting an inert coolant.

A process for the removal of hydrogen sulfide and sulfur recovery from a H.sub.2S-containing gas stream by catalytic direct oxidation and Claus reaction through two or more serially connected catalytic reactors, wherein a specific control of the oxygen supplement is operated. The control and improvement of the process is obtained by complementing, in each major step of the process, the H.sub.2S-containing gas stream by a suitable flow of oxygen, namely before the H.sub.2S-containing gas stream enters the Claus furnace, in the first reactor of the process and in the last reactor of the process. Especially in application in a SubDewPoint sulfur recovery process the H.sub.2S/SO.sub.2 ratio is kept constant also during switch-over of the reactors R1 and R by adding the last auxiliary oxygen containing gas directly upstream the last reactor R so that the H.sub.2S/SO.sub.2 ratio can follow the signal of the ADA within a few seconds.

A method for recovering sulfur from an acid gas feed is provided. The method comprising the steps of mixing the acid gas feed and an absorption process outlet stream to form a combined Claus feed, introducing the combined Claus feed and a sulfur dioxide enriched air feed to a Claus process to produce a Claus outlet gas stream, introducing the Claus outlet gas stream to a thermal oxidizer, treating the thermal oxidizer outlet stream in a gas treatment unit to produce a dehydrated stream, introducing the dehydrated stream to a membrane sweeping unit to produce a sweep membrane residue stream and a sulfur dioxide enriched air feed, introducing a sweep air stream to a permeate side of the membrane sweeping unit, and introducing the sweep membrane residue stream to a sulfur dioxide absorption process to produce the absorption process outlet stream and a stack feed.

A method for increasing sulfur recovery from an acid gas feed comprising the steps of introducing the acid gas feed and a sulfur dioxide enriched air stream to a Claus process to produce a product gas stream, introducing the product gas stream to a thermal oxidizer to produce a flue gas stream, cooling the flue gas stream to produce a cooled take-off stream, separating the cooled take-off stream into a saturated gas stream, heating the saturated gas stream to produce a membrane gas stream, introducing the membrane gas stream to a membrane sweeping unit, the membrane sweeping unit comprises a membrane, the sulfur dioxide in the membrane gas stream permeates the membrane of the membrane sweeping unit, introducing a sweep air stream, the sweep air stream collects the sulfur dioxide to create the sulfur dioxide enriched air stream.

Recovering helium from a gaseous stream includes contacting an acid gas removal membrane with a gaseous stream to yield a permeate stream and a residual stream, removing a majority of the acid gas from the residual stream to yield a first acid gas stream and a helium depleted clean gas stream, removing a majority of the acid gas from the permeate stream to yield a second acid gas stream and a helium rich stream, and removing helium from the helium rich stream to yield a helium product stream and a helium depleted stream. A helium removal system for removing helium from a gaseous stream including hydrocarbon gas, acid gas, and helium includes a first processing zone including a first acid gas removal unit, a second processing zone including a second acid gas removal unit, a third processing zone, and a helium purification unit.

A water gas shift reaction is carried out on a feed gas comprising carbon monoxide to produce carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas. The feed gas is split into multiple input streams flowed into respective reactors coupled in series. Steam is supplied to the input stream fed to the first reactor. The shift reaction is carried out in each reactor, with an overall reduced consumption of steam relative to the amount of gas shifted. The water gas shift reaction may be performed in conjunction with removing acid gas compounds from a process gas such as, for example, syngas or natural gas, by flowing a feed gas into a desulfurization unit to remove a substantial fraction of sulfur compounds from the feed gas and flowing the resulting desulfurized gas into a CO.sub.2 removal unit to remove a substantial fraction of CO.sub.2 from the desulfurized gas.

Contemplated systems and methods for removing polysulfides and hydrogen sulfide from liquid sulfur of a Claus plant include (a) physically separated steps of catalytic decomposition of polysulfides and gas stripping, or (b) use of the stripping gas as the continuous phase in a packed column with decomposition catalyst to so avoid catalyst attrition.

A method for increasing sulfur recovery from an acid gas feed comprising the steps of introducing the acid gas feed and a sulfur dioxide enriched air stream to a Claus process to produce a product gas stream, introducing the product gas stream to a thermal oxidizer to produce a flue gas stream, cooling the flue gas stream to produce a cooled take-off stream, separating the cooled take-off stream into a saturated gas stream, heating the saturated gas stream to produce a membrane gas stream, introducing the membrane gas stream to a membrane sweeping unit, the membrane sweeping unit comprises a membrane, the sulfur dioxide in the membrane gas stream permeates the membrane of the membrane sweeping unit, introducing a sweep air stream, the sweep air stream collects the sulfur dioxide to create the sulfur dioxide enriched air stream.

A method for recovering sulfur from an acid gas feed is provided. The method comprising the steps of mixing the acid gas feed and an absorption process outlet stream to form a combined Claus feed, introducing the combined Claus feed and a sulfur dioxide enriched air feed to a Claus process to produce a Claus outlet gas stream, introducing the Claus outlet gas stream to a thermal oxidizer, treating the thermal oxidizer outlet stream in a gas treatment unit to produce a dehydrated stream, introducing the dehydrated stream to a membrane sweeping unit to produce a sweep membrane residue stream and a sulfur dioxide enriched air feed, introducing a sweep air stream to a permeate side of the membrane sweeping unit, and introducing the sweep membrane residue stream to a sulfur dioxide absorption process to produce the absorption process outlet stream and a stack feed.

A device includes a desulfurization system which forms a hydrogen sulfide-containing acid gas; a system for extracting elemental sulfur and a hydrogen sulfide-containing tail gas as exhaust gas; a device for generating electricity and gypsum from the tail gas; and a gas line system for supplying acid gas from the desulfurization system to the system for extracting elemental sulfur and to the device for generating electricity and gypsum, and for supplying tail gas from the system for extracting elemental sulfur to the device for generating electricity and gypsum. The gas line system has a gas distributing apparatus which supplies acid gas solely to the system in a first position, supplies acid gas solely to the device in a second position, and supplies a first part of the acid gas to the system and a second part of the acid gas to the device in a distributing position.