Apparatus for incineration of sulfur plant tail gas

Claim 1

Apparatus comprising: a furnace capable of converting hydrogen sulfide to sulfur dioxide at high temperatures; first conduit means for passing a first feed stream containing hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) into said furnace; second conduit means for passing a second feed stream containing oxygen into said furnace to convert part of the H 2 S contained in said first feed stream to sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) wherein a gaseous reaction mixture containing free sulfur and unreacted H 2 S and SO 2 gases is formed in said furnace; first sulfur removal means for removing at least a part of the free sulfur contained in said gaseous reaction mixture, thereby producing a denuded gaseous stream containing unreacted H 2 S and SO 2 ; third conduit means for withdrawing said gaseous reaction mixture from said furnace and for providing said gaseous reaction mixture to said first sulfur removal means; a catalytic sulfur converter means to convert a portion of the unreacted H 2 S and SO 2 gases contained in said denuded gaseous stream to free sulfur, thereby producing a converted gaseous stream containing free sulfur and unreacted H 2 S and SO 2 gases; fourth conduit means for withdrawing said denuded gaseous stream from said first sulfur removal means and for providing said denuded gaseous stream to said catalytic sulfur converter means; second sulfur removal means to remove at least a portion of the free sulfur from said converted gaseous stream, thereby producing a tail gas stream containing unreacted H 2 S and SO 2 ; fifth conduit means for withdrawing said converted gaseous stream from said catalytic sulfur converter means and for providing said converted gaseous stream to said second sulfur removal means; a burner, wherein said burner comprises a part of an incinerator, said incinerator having a stack associated therewith; and means for mixing said tail gas stream with a fuel gas stream connected to means for supplying the mixture of said fuel gas stream and said tail gas stream to said burner to therein convert substantially all the H 2 S in said tail gas stream to SO 2 at a stack temperature in the range of about 900° F. to about 950° F., the combustion product containing less than about 10 PPM H 2 S.