1.

1 Design of reaction Furnace

Here the equipment called muffle furnace is actually a plug flow reactor provided
with refractory linings to avoid material damage on the account of liberation of
high exothermic heats of reaction and combustion. In this thermal reactor we
treat acid gas with air to produce sulfur dioxide which then reacts in the claus
three stage reactors to produce elemental sulfur. As we are oxidizing or burning
hydrogen sulfide in the presence of air, the reaction will be highly exothermic,
thus liberating high heat contents, so we named it a furnace. Design is totally on
reactor base calculations.
The basic design steps included are (keeping in mind that due to
absence of kinetic data the reactor has to be designed based upon the concept of
residence time):

Step-1: Estimation of Residence time (ԏ)

Step-2: Calculation of volumetric flowrate (u)
Step-3: Calculation of volume of reactor (v)
Step-4: calculation of length of reactor (L)
Step-5: Selection of refractory material
Step-6: Calculation of internal diameter of reactor (Di)
Step-7: Calculation of thickness of reactor (t)
Step-8: Calculation of outer diameter (Do)
Step-9: Calculation of the volume of steel required (Vs)
Step-10: Calculation of the mass of steel required (Ms)
Step-11: Calculation of pressure drop (∆P)

The assumptions are taken before coming to the actual design are:
Plug flow
Steady state
Constant density
Constant tube diameter
No mixing in axial direction
Complete mixing in axial direction
A uniform velocity profile across the radius

Step-1: Estimation of residence time (ԏ)

Residence time (ԏ) = Volume of reactor (V) / Volumetric flowrate (u)

The residence time is actually based upon the results obtained from the
information and calculations of the kinetics of reactions involved. Since kinetic
data is not available we have to take help from literature. The residence time is
taken as 2.5 seconds.

Residence time (ԏ) = 2.5 sec

Step-2: Calculation of volumetric flowrate (u)

For the calculations of volumetric flow rate we proceeds as:

Ɛ = (Uo – Ui) / Ui

Whereas:
Ɛ = Expansivity (dimensionless)
Uo = outlet volumetric flow rate (m3/hr)
Ui = inlet volumetric flow rate (m3/hr)
Now:

Inlet volumetric flow rate (Ui) = Inlet mass feed flow rate (mi) ÷ density of inlet
steam (ῥ)

Inlet mass feed flow rate (mi) = Mass flow rate of stream-01 ÷ mass flow rate of
stream-2

For the calculations of the mass flow rate of both streams we must know the
average molecular weight of both streams.
Stream-01 Composition
Component Mole fractions Molecular wt. (kg/kgmol)
H2S 0.523 34.0
CO2 0.376 44.0
CH4 0.004 16.0
H2O 0.010 18.0
C2H6 0.0008 30.0
C3H8 0.0001 44.0

Average molecular wt. of stream-01 = (0523 × 34.0) + (0.376 × 44.0) + (0.004 ×

16.0 ) + (0.10 × 18.0) + (0.0008 × 30.0) + (0.0001 + 44.0)
= 34.60 kg/kgmol

Similarly:
Stream-02 compositions
component Mole fraction Molecular wt. (kh/kgmol)
O2 0.210 32.0
N2 0.790 28.0

Average molecular wt. of stream-02 = (0.210 × 32.0) + ( 0.790 × 28.0) = 28.84

kg/kgmol
Now:
Mass flow rate of stream-01 =
198.80 kgmol 34.60 kg
Hr 1 kgmol

= 7490.0 kg/hr
Inlet mass feed flow rate (mi) = 6878.50 + 7490 kg/hr = 14368.50 kg/hr
Now we are to calculate the density of the inlet stream (Di).
We know general eqn. of gas
PV = nRT
OR
PV = M(RT) / (M.W)

M/V =ῥi= P(M.W) / RT

For the calculations of molecular wt. of the gas we proceed as follows:
The composition of the stream formed after the mixing of stream-01 and stream-
02 is as follows:

Mixed stream compositions

components Flow rate Mole Molecular weight
(kgmol/hr) fraction (kg/kgmol)
H2S 104.03 0.226 34.0
CO2 74.83 0.163 44.0
CH4 0.95 0.002 16.0
H2O 18.8 0.041 18.0
C2H6 0.16 0.0003 30.0
C3H8 0.02 0.00004 44.0
O2 54.54 0.119 32.0
N2 205.2 0.447 28.0

Molecular wt. of the mixed stream = (0.226 × 34.0) + (0.163 × 44.0) + (0.002 ×
16.0) + (0.041 + 18.0) + (0.0003 × 30.0) + (0.00004 ×44.0) + (0.119 × 32.0) + (0.447
× 28.0)
= 32.10 kg/kgmol

Now:
Density = (1 atm) (32.10 kg/kgmo) ÷ (0.0821) (416.2 k) = 0.94 kg/m3

Now from eqn.

Inlet vol. flow rate (ui) = 14368.50 kg/hr ÷ 0.94 kg/m3 = 15285.60 m3/hr