Abstract

The oil and gas industry produces sulfur as a by-product when the feed constitutes of sulfur compounds. In the sulfur finishing process, two processes are used to convert molten sulfur to solid particles namely granulation and prilling. The prilling process for sulfur involves molten sulfur being pumped into perforated trays and then poured into an agitated water bath dropwise. This is the wet-prill process. This paper proposes to examine three samples of sulfur, one of which in the prilled form and the other two in granule form produced via two different granulation processes. The characterization tests included particle size distribution, strength measurement, structure analysis, and thermal calorimetry measurements. It was found that there are major differences between sulfur prills and granules when looking at physical and mechanical properties such as size, strength, and thermal properties. The three samples have been tested and analyzed to conclude the best process. The average strength of the prills is 2.4 N in comparison to the average strength of the normal and mixed granule being 3.26 N and 4.7 N, respectively. It is concluded that the granules were stronger than the prills but the prills were more uniform than both samples of granules.

摘要

当进料由硫化合物构成时，石油和天然气工业会产生硫作为副产品。在硫磺精加工过程中，使用两种工艺将熔融硫磺转化为固体颗粒，即造粒和造粒。硫磺的造粒过程包括将熔融硫磺泵入多孔托盘，然后逐滴倒入搅拌的水浴中。这是湿法造粒工艺。本文建议检查三种硫磺样品，其中一种为颗粒状，另两种为颗粒状，通过两种不同的造粒工艺生产。表征测试包括粒度分布、强度测量、结构分析和热量热测量。研究发现，在查看尺寸、强度和热性能等物理和机械性能时，硫磺颗粒和颗粒之间存在重大差异。三个样品均经过测试和分析，得出最佳工艺。颗粒的平均强度为 2.4 N，而普通颗粒和混合颗粒的平均强度分别为 3.26 N 和 4.7 N。得出的结论是，颗粒比颗粒更强，但颗粒比两种颗粒样品更均匀。