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PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
Air Drying
The air taken from outside is compressed and dehumidified. The cooling has the purpose
to remove the humidity from the air, up to a saturation humidity of 2 degree Celsius & also
to convey low temperature air to the dehumidifying tower, thus favoring the water
absorption in the silica gel. The silica gel air drying has the object to reduce to very low
values (dew point -60 approx.) the moisture content of air intended for the sulfur
combustion, & then for conversion.
In order to remove the compression heat and to condense the moisture, the air is first
cooled by cooling water and then by a glycol solution in the glycol tower. The air flow is
then conveyed at a constant temperature (less than 5℃) to the silica gel dryers.
Sulfur Melting
The solid sulfur is melted and filtered to avoid the pump valves clogging and then fed to
the sulfur burner by a proportioning pump. The viscosity of molten sulfur is minimum
between 135℃ to 140 ℃. Molten sulfur is fed under mass control by means of a mass
flow meter. The pump and the relevant piping are steam heated in order to keep the
temperature constant and to minimize sulfur viscosity.
The oxidation reaction of sulfur dioxide and trioxide is exothermic and heat produced by
it is quite sufficient to keep the catalyst layers at the required at the required temperature
to obtain a good conversion progress.
The sulfur combustion furnace has been designed for this special purpose. In the furnace,
the sulfur is fed through a pipe and falls on a surface of refractory balls, while the
combustion air is supplied in counter current, thus obtaining the complete combustion of
sulfur without its spraying through a nozzle; which might often clog owing to sulfur
impurities.
S(l) + O2 (g) SO2 (g)
2SO2 (g) + O2 (g) 2SO3 (g)
Thereafter, a heat exchanger cools the gas so that it reaches the conversion tower at the
required temperature. The conversion tower is composed of three layers of vanadium
pentoxide (V2O5) catalyst.
Sulfonation Process
The sulfonation gas is automatically fed on the reactor top and distributed in part strictly
equal on each of the pipes composing the reactor. The raw material to be sulfonated is
fed in co-current with the gas. Outside the reaction tubes in the reactor jacket the cooling
water circulates in co-current with the film, thus allowing a control of the reaction
temperature by heat removing.
This SO3 is sent to the reactor where it reacts with Linear Alkyl Benzene. Due to presence
of some water vapors in air some oleum is also formed. This should be avoided as it can
cause blockage. The reactor has small tubes in which the SO3 passes and the LAB
passes through its sides. The main reaction takes place at bottom of these tubes and
during maintenance these tubes are thoroughly cleaned because if the LAB leaks to the
center part then the reaction will take place there only and no SO3 will pass through.
Separation
Then this mixture of LABSA (desired product), LAB, SO3 and a mixture of other waste
materials including oleum is sent to a separator. The liquid product is sent to the aging
vessel and the gases are sent to cyclone.
PROCESS 2
This process begins with the extraction of alkanes – which is the precursor of LAB,
the raw material for LABSA – from the Kerosene fraction of petroleum via adsorption on
zeolites. These alkanes then enter the dehydrogenation reactor to form the alkenes. The
alkenes produced undergo benzene alkylation, usually with the aide of a Hydrogen
Fluoride or Aluminum Chloride catalyst, to form Linear Alkylbenzene (LAB). The
alkylbenzene sulfonate is produced via sulfonation reaction of LAB with a sulfonating
agent, which is a dilute solution of SO3 in air – typically 10% SO3. The result of sulfonating
LAB is the formation of Linear Alkylbenzene Sulfonic Acid or LABSA.
PROCESS 3
First of all LAB (Linear Alkyl Benzene) will be pumped from its storage tank to dosing tank
in which we can measure to required quantity and then after measuring the required
quantity it will be dropped into stirrer and after it we will pump H2SO4 (Sulfuric Acid) into
dosing tank to measure its quantity after measuring it we will drop it in the stirrer which is
already mixing LAB, we will mix it for nearly 3-4 hours after completion of mixing we will
add little amount of water and the whole batch will be drop in the separator.
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alkylbenzene-sulfonic-acid-labsa-msds-applications/details
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https://www.chemphil.com.ph/main_cmc.htm