Successful start-up of world’s largest wet gas sulfuric acid (WSA) plant

• The WSA plant treats 131,000 tons of acid gas per year from a neighboring world-scale refinery in Huizhou, China.
• The patented WSA process converts more than 99.9% of the sulfur in the off-gases into commercial grade sulfuric acid.
• Since 2000, Topsoe has sold 68 WSA plants in China, of which 54 are already on stream.

Bestgrand Chemical Group has announced the successful start-up of its wet gas sulfuric acid (WSA) plant – the world’s largest with a production capacity of 300,000 tons of sulfuric acid per year. The plant will treat 131,000 tons of acid gas over-the-fence per year from the neighboring world-scale refinery plant operated by a joint venture between CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corporation) and Shell in Huizhou City, China.

Bestgrand Chemical Group has focused on the environmental benefits from using WSA to capture gaseous sulfur and convert it into commercial grade sulfuric acid. It has also been a deciding factor that both the energy efficiency and the heat recovery of the process are very high. The company predicts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 220,000 tons every year and to reduce sulfur (SO₂) emissions to a level 50% lower than what is required of the sulfuric acid industry.