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 process plant and a process for production of sulfur from a feedstock gas including from 15% to 100 vol % H.sub.2S and a stream of sulfuric acid, the process including a) providing a Claus reaction furnace feed stream with a substoichiometric amount of oxygen, b) directing to a Claus reaction furnace operating at elevated temperature, c) cooling to provide a cooled Claus converter feed gas, d) directing to contact a material catalytically active in the Claus reaction, e) withdrawing a Claus tail gas and elementary sulfur, f) directing a stream comprising said Claus tail gas to a Claus tail gas treatment, wherein sulfuric acid directed to said Claus reaction furnace is in the form of droplets with 90% of the mass of the droplets having a diameter below 500 μm, with the associated benefit of such a process efficiently converting all liquid H.sub.2SO.sub.4 to gaseous H.sub.2SO.sub.4 and further to SO.sub.2.

Provided here are methods and systems to recover greater than 99.9% of sulfur from natural gas and from other processed gases containing hydrogen sulfide derived from refining crude oil and other industrial processes. The method and system involves a sub-dew point reactor unit with separation units for water removal.

A revamp process for modifying a sulfur abatement plant including a Claus process plant, the Claus process plant including a Claus reaction furnace and one or more Claus conversion stages, each Claus conversion stage including a conversion reactor and a means for elemental sulfur condensation, and a means of Claus tail gas oxidation configured for receiving a Claus tail gas from said Claus process plant and configured for providing an oxidized Claus tail gas, the process revamp including: a) providing a sulfuric acid producing tail gas treatment plant producing sulfuric acid, and b) providing a means for transferring an amount or all of the sulfuric acid produced in said sulfuric acid producing tail gas treatment plant to said Claus reaction furnace, wherein the moles of sulfur in the transferred sulfuric acid relative to the moles of elemental sulfur withdrawn from the Claus process plant is from 3% to 25%.

A method for sulfur recovery includes, in a hydrogenation reactor, converting sulfur-containing compounds in a Claus tail gas stream to hydrogen sulfide to produce a hydrogenated gas stream; feeding the hydrogenated gas stream to a quench tower to produce a quenched gas stream by condensing liquid water; feeding the quenched gas stream to a first stage adsorption vessel of a first stage adsorption unit to produce a first outlet gas stream by adsorbing water from the quenched gas stream; feeding the first outlet gas stream to a second stage adsorption vessel of a second stage adsorption unit to produce a second byproduct gas stream by adsorbing hydrogen sulfide from the first outlet gas stream; separating the second byproduct gas stream into a carbon dioxide stream and an enriched nitrogen stream; and regenerating the second stage adsorption vessel using the enriched nitrogen stream.

The process for configuring or reconfiguring a sulfur removal plant having a plurality of Claus units that is greater than the number of downstream tail gas treating units (TGTUs) is disclosed. The process allows for the regeneration of one of the Claus units without shutting down any of the downstream TGTUs or the other Claus units. Specifically, the regeneration tail gas can be diverted to the reaction furnace of an in-service Claus unit, thereby allowing excess oxygen to be used to regenerate the Claus unit more efficiently, and without exceeding environmental SO.sub.2 emission requirements.

An elemental sulfur recovery unit comprising a thermal unit configured to combust an acid gas feed comprising hydrogen sulfide, an oxygen source, and a fuel gas to create a reaction furnace outlet stream, comprising elemental sulfur, a waste heat boiler configured to capture heat from the reaction furnace outlet stream to create a waste heat boiler effluent, a condenser configured to condense the waste heat boiler effluent to produce a non-condensed gases stream and a condensed stream comprising elemental sulfur, a process gas reheater configured to generate a hot gases stream, a hydrogenation reactor configured to convert the hot gases stream to create a hydrogenation effluent comprising hydrogen sulfide, a process desuperheater configured to cool the hydrogenation effluent to generate a cooled effluent, and an absorber unit configured to absorb the hydrogen sulfide from the cooled effluent to produce a hydrogen sulfide recycle stream and a waste gas stream.

The invention concerns a method for treating a hydrocarbon feed gas stream containing at least CO.sub.2 and H.sub.2S to recover a high quality purified CO.sub.2 gas stream, comprising a. Separating said hydrocarbon feed gas stream into a sweetened hydrocarbon gas stream, and an acid gas stream; b. Introducing said gas stream into a Claus unit, c. Introducing the tail gas into a hydrogenation reactor and then into a quench contactor of the Tail Gas Treatment Unit (TGTU); d. Contacting said tail gas stream with a non-selective amine-based solvent into a non-selective acid gas absorption unit of the TGTU; e. Sending the off gas to an incinerator; f. Contacting said enriched gas stream (vii) with a selective H.sub.2S-absorption solvent into a selective H.sub.2S-absorption unit thereby recovering a highly purified CO.sub.2 gas stream and a H.sub.2S-enriched gas stream, as well as the device for carrying said method.

A vertically oriented sulfur condenser may employ a plurality of condenser tubes arranged longitudinally within an exterior casing, a liquid sulfur reservoir at a longitudinal end of the sulfur condenser, and a condenser tube wall of at least one of the plurality of condenser tubes that protrudes into and below a liquid sulfur reservoir. A catalyst may be located within the liquid sulfur reservoir. A liquid sulfur outlet may be located at the liquid sulfur surface. A Claus process gas inlet may be proximate a first end of the plurality of condenser tubes. A first tube sheet may connect to and seal an end of the plurality of condenser tubes proximate a first end of the plurality of condenser tubes. A second tube sheet may connect to and seals with the plurality of condenser tubes and the exterior casing proximate a second end of the plurality of condenser tubes.

A process of producing degassed liquid sulfur using process gas containing H.sub.2S to agitate the liquid sulfur being degassed while in contact with a degassing catalyst. Process gas is less costly and less complicated and quickly accomplishes substantial degassing rendering the liquid sulfur much safer in storage and transportation.