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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Frames has supplied,
and successfully commissioned, a hydrogen sulfide (H2S) removal unit, based on
Frames’ proprietary LAMINOL technology, to a refinery in Antwerp, Belgium, said
Canplastics.
With
significantly lower cost of ownership than conventional caustic scrubbers and
solid bed type H2S removal processes, the LAMINOL process is suitable for low to
mid sulfur loads. Researching the most effective solution to comply with the
refinery’s stringent flue gas SOX emission limits, various technologies were
evaluated during the conceptual design phase, including flue gas treatment and
caustic scrubbers. Frames’ LAMINOL technology was selected as most effective,
while meeting the refinery’s total cost of ownership requirements. Working to a
fast track schedule, the modular H2S removal system was quickly installed and
commissioned.
Instead of treating the flue gas directly, the LAMINOL
technology removes sulfur components from the distillation overhead gas
containing up to 60% H2S before it is combusted in the process furnace. Treating
the waste gas in a stand-alone modularized unit meant that the unit was much
easier to integrate into the existing refinery facility. The gaseous sulfur
removed is converted into elementary sulfur in solid form.
“LAMINOL is a
highly effective, and economically attractive, method for deep H2S removal at
high concentrations,” says Lennard Spit, gas treatment specialist, Frames. “And
unlike many other removal systems, the technology is robust and capable of
infinite turndown and handling feed gas fluctuations that are more
representative of ‘real world’ refinery waste streams."
Frames LAMINOL
technology is the result of an in-house R&D program initially developed and
applied in the biogas market where it provides a cost-effective alternative to
conventional biogas sweetening processes. The LAMINOL technology is capable of
selectively removing H2S from CO2 rich gas streams to a few ppm even at near
atmospheric gas pressure and is suitable for treating any gas stream.
As
MRC informed previously, global oil demand may have already peaked, according to
BP's latest long-term energy outlook, as the COVID-19 pandemic kicks the world
economy onto a weaker growth trajectory and accelerates the shift to cleaner
fuels.
Earlier this year, BP said the deadly coronavirus outbreak could
cut global oil
demand growth by 40 per cent in 2020, putting pressure on Opec producers and
Russia to curb supplies to keep prices in check.
And in September 2019,
six world's major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North
Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) announced the
creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam
crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels.
The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP,
LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also
significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies agreed to invest in
R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning
their base chemical production to renewable electricity.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and
polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report,
Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,594,510 tonnes in the first nine
months of 2020, up by 1% year on year. Only high denstiy polyethylene (HDPE)
shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market
reached 880,130 tonnes in the nine months of 2020 (calculated using the formula:
production minus exports plus imports, exluding producers' inventories as of 1
January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer. |
