Haldor Topsoe and Comprimo® (part of Worley) announce global strategic alliance on TopClaus® technology to offer refiners cost-effective compliance in sulfur management

“Thanks to this alliance, customers will benefit from a simpler, more robust and efficient plant design at a lower cost of ownership. TopClaus® sulfur removal and recovery will enable them to comply with strict environmental regulations while protecting their profit. We are proud to be working with Comprimo®, the world’s largest technology licensor of gas treating and sulfur recovery solutions,” says Rasmus Atle Breivik, Product Line Director, Topsoe.

The Claus part of the TopClaus® solution recovers elemental sulfur from acid gases. The tail gases from the Claus unit are then treated in the WSA unit, where the remaining sulfur compounds are converted into sulfuric acid. The sulfuric acid is returned directly to the Claus reaction furnace for reprocessing to elemental sulfur, with no sulfuric acid left as by-product. However, sulfuric acid can be drawn off for specific uses or for sale as desired.

The TopClaus® solution significantly reduces the refinery’s CO2 footprint as it eliminates the need to incinerate tail gas. In addition, the WSA unit recovers as much as 90 % of the process heat in the shape of valuable superheated high-pressure steam. The steam can be used in other refinery processes or for generation of electricity. This results in much lower operating costs compared to any conventional amine-based technology that uses steam for amine regeneration and requires tail gas incineration.

The TopClaus® solution is equally suited for greenfield projects as for debottlenecking of existing acid gas treatment plants, providing more uptime, increased capacity, and lower emissions.