GAS CLEANING Waste gases from many metallurgical processes must be treated to reduce to the sulfur dioxide emissions

to the atmosphere. To achieve this sulfur dioxide in the gas is converted to sulfur Trioxide for production of sulfuric Acid in the sulfuric acid plant. The metallurgical off-gasses must be cleaned prior to entering the contact section of the Acid Plant to enable the plant to produce a product Acid of acceptable quality for use & sale. As well as, clean gas is required to prevent plugging of catalyst beds and other detrimental effects on equipment such as corrosion & erosion. Typical impurities include dust, metallic fumes ( i.e. Arsenic, Mercury, Selenium)and gaseous Fluorine, Chlorine, Sulfur trioxide and Sulfur dioxide. GAS CLEANING METHODS: There are many types of equipment available for the removal of dust, Fumes, mists and fine liquid droplets from gases. There devices fall into five basic groups. Each group has its own particular filed of application special expertise is required to determine the best technical & economical solution to a gas cleaning problem. Some of the equipment options available to designers are: Gravity settling chamber: The principle of this method of collection is to pass the gases through large chamber at a very low velocity. Cleaning of the gas is achieved by dust particles falling out of gas stream under the influence of gravity. Cyclone Collectors: These devices force the gas to develop a spinning motion dust particles are separated by centrifugal forces and are removed from the gas stream when they contact the wall of devices. WET SCRUBBERS: In these devices, dust or fume particles in the gas stream are contacted or wetted with a liquid to increase their mass. These larger particles can them be more early removed in either gravity or centrifugal separators. Filters: The principle of this method of collection is the pass the gas stream through Semi-porous medium. Filters can be constructed of worn cloth or felt, metal fibers, ceramic etc which retains the dust particles. ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATORS: These devices used electrical forces to remove solid and liquid particles from the gas stream. CONTACT PROCESS REACTION : The contact process is based on the following reaction S O2 + 1/2 O2 _____ SO3 + Heat The reaction both reversible & exothermic without the catalyst the reaction would still occur, but extremely slowly. The reaction is reversible in that as So3 is being formed, the

reverse reaction is also occurring. As more So3 is formed, the rate of the reverse reaction is also occurring As more So3 is formed, the rate of the reverse reaction increases. Eventually, a point is reached where the rate of forward reaction equals the rate of reverse reaction and no further production of So3 occurs. At this point reaction has reached a state of equilibrium conditions of the reaction can be represented by a curve on a plot of temp versus conversion. An exothermic reaction mean that heat is produced during he reactions Exothermic reaction can proceed either isothermally, adiabatically of some where in between ( figure 3-2). An isothermal reaction proceed at constant temperature. For an exothermic reaction this mean that he heat produced must continuously be removed in order for the temperature of the reaction to remain constant. For adiabatic reaction, no heat enters or leaves so the result is an increase in temperature of the reaction. ADIABATIC REACTION Modern contact Sulfuric Acid plants are designed to follow an adiabatic reaction path, The slop of the operation line varies according th the So2 conc. Of the gas. The higher the So2 conc the lower the slop of the operating line. Conversely, the lower the So2 conc. The steeper the slop of the operation line (Fing 3-3) The effect of S03 consideration is seen in plants that operate with gas strength this greater than 11% to 11.5% SO2. The temperature existing the first catalyst bed is over 620C (1148F) at lower concentration the first bed exit temperatures can be between 560 to 600C (1040 to 112F) The goal of a plant designer and operators is to design and operate the plant in such a way as to maximize. The productions of SO3. The first step to achieve this goal is to understand the factors effect the reactions and degree of conversion achieved. In 1888 Henri-Lewis Le Chatelier (1850 to 1936), a French Industrial chemist made the observation Temperature Conversion

2) operation line for an adiabatic Reaction:operating line starts from 425C and ends at 0.55 conversion and 630C