Paper Title :Identification Of Metallurgicalsulphuric Acid Plants Production Line Bottlenecks

Author :Morteza Amiri, Hossein Alihosseinpour

Article Citation :Morteza Amiri ,Hossein Alihosseinpour , (2015 ) " Identification Of Metallurgicalsulphuric Acid Plants Production Line Bottlenecks " , International Journal of Mechanical and Production Engineering (IJMPE) , pp. 88-93, Volume-3,Issue-10

Abstract : Sarcheshmeh Copper Smelter in Kerman Province, Iran is equipped with a sulphuric acid plant that treats the smelter off-gases containing low SO2 concentrations to produce sulphuric acid with single absorption system. There is provision in the design to convert the plant from single to double absorption would allow it to handle higher SO2 concentrations and produce more sulphuric acid.This study examines various options for handling the off-gas connected with implementing new technology at NICICO’s Sarcheshmeh Copper Smelter by steady state simulation of the sulphuric acid plant by ASPEN PLUS V.8 process simulation software and Plant data extracted from DCS (Distributed Control System) employed for validation of the model.The modeling results agree very well with the real plant data.There are two ways to increase production capacity in sulphuric acid plants: increase SO2-laden gas flow rate and increase SO2 concentration. In obedience to the plant design basis, gas flow limited by the plant blower. Increase SO2 concentration, increases converter first bed temperature which is harmful for catalysts. Also heat capacity of gas-gas heat exchanger for decrease 1st bed outlet temperature is another obstacle to increase SO2 concentration boundlessly. According to simulation results, via minor changes in available equipment, it is possible to increase production capacity about 50% rather to main design by increase SO2 concentration about 50% under strict environmental regulations. Beside increase production rate, SOx emissions from the plant keep under environmental regulations, less than 300 ppm.Besides controllability, operability and optimization studies the plant model is also useful for operator training and various scenario assessments. Keywords- Sulphuric acid, Metallurgical, Simulation, Debottlenecking, Double Absorption.

Type : Research paper

Published : Volume-3,Issue-10

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