MATERIAL PROGRESS IN Nelson Clark, Joanes Barros, Matheus Sanchez, Bruno Ferraro, Gabriel Murakami, Lucas Camargo and Paulo Portilho, Clark Solutions, Brazil, investigate how special alloys have been changing the way industrial sulfuric acid plants are built and operated.
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ince the first industrial sulfuric acid plants were built in the early 1900s, very little change occurred in the materials used to handle the harsh conditions of the acid-producing environment. More recently, the development and increased availability of special alloys has greatly simplified the design and construction of the plants – small, skid-mounted plants can now be built and shipped to customers for installation with minimal field work and assembly.
Oxidation converters Sulfur dioxide (SO2) oxidation converters are the core of any sulfuric acid facility. As a general rule they are large, cylindrical, vertical vessels (though Clark Solutions has used horizontal vessels on small skid-mounted plants), housing three, four or five catalytic beds where the SO2 to sulfur trioxide (SO3) oxidation reaction takes place when the gases contact vanadium-based catalyst at reaction temperatures that range between 380˚C – 650˚C (715˚F – 1200˚F).
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