Sour water stripping project, Committee on Refinery Environmental Control, American Petroleum Inst

Book · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1975

OSTI ID:7301406

(Purpose in stripping refinery sour waters is to keep sulfides and NH/sub 3/ out of the wastewater.) Synthetic sour water containing only H/sub 2/S and NH/sub 3/ can be readily stripped if precautions are taken to prevent oxidation of sulfide. Addition of phenols and cyanide did not interfere with NH/sub 3/ or H/sub 2/S removal. Real sour waters behave differently from the synthetic solutions, owing to acidic impurities which hold some NH/sub 3/ as ammonium ions. A full-scale stripper with 10 valve trays removed NH/sub 3/ to the same extent as a small-scale stripper with 5 trays. Van Krevelen (VK) equilibrium data gave estimated tray efficiencies of 65 percent and 90-100 percent for these two strippers. NH/sub 3/ and H/sub 2/S contents in the reflux condensate calculated using VK data were 2 to 4 times greater than measurements. The VK equilibrium data can be used to design sour water strippers with no caustic addition if the amount of ''fixed'' NH/sub 3/ is subtracted from the feed and added to the bottoms. Disposal of the overhead gas is discussed. A number of useful ideas based on experience with sour water systems in refineries are identified. (DLC)

• OSTI ID: 7301406
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020800* -- Petroleum-- Waste Management
AMMONIA
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DEGASSING
DESULFURIZATION
EQUILIBRIUM
HYDRIDES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN SULFIDES
LIQUID WASTES
MANAGEMENT
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN HYDRIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PETROLEUM REFINERIES
PROCESSING
REMOVAL
SULFIDES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTE WATER
WASTES
WATER