Dustin Jones

Steady State and Dynamic Modeling of the Modified Claus Process as part of an IGCC Power Plant Process as part of an IGCC Power Plan

The Modified Claus Process is one of the most common methods for sulfur recovery from acid gas streams. An extensive survey of the open literature has been carried out to collect rate expression and experimental data for the reactions of the Claus reaction furnace. For the instances that no rate expression could be found, rate expressions were derived from the available published experimental data. Additionally, data fitting of the rate parameters of key reactions in the Claus furnace was carried out. This resulted in a significantly better agreement of the model with the published industrial data in comparison to the available models in the open literature. With these and other rate expressions, a steady-state model of the Claus plant and hydrogenation unit was developed. With this kinetic model, an optimization study was carried out to minimize the power requirement in the Claus unit and other associated units as a result of the Claus unit operation. The optimization study shows that for low costs of hydrogen sulfide recovery, optimal H2S/SO2 ratio is larger than two so as to maximize hydrogen production. As the cost of hydrogen sulfide recovery is increased, optimal H2S/SO2 ratio nears two, increasing single-pass conversion. This steady state model then served as the basis of a dynamic pressure- driven simulation of the Claus and hydrogenation units. With this simulation, models where identified between the oxygen flow to the Claus furnace (input) and H2S/SO2 ratio (output) and between the H2S concentration in the feed to the Claus unit (disturbance)) and the H2S/SO2 ratio. With these identified models, a feedforward control strategy was developed and implemented in Aspen Plus Dynamics. This control strategy resulted in a much improved dynamic performance than conventional PI control under changing acid gas composition.  

• Bankole S, Jones D, Bhattacharyya D , Turton R,  Zitney S, “Optimal Scheduling and Its Lyapunov Stability for Advanced Load-Following Energy Plants with CO2 Capture”, Computers & Chemical Engineering, 109, 30-47, 2018

• Jones D, Bhattacharyya D, Turton R, Zitney S,  “Plant-Wide Control System Design: Secondary Controlled Variable Selection”, Computers & Chemical Engineering, 71, 253-262, 2014

• Jones D, Bhattacharyya D, Turton R, Zitney S,  “Plant-Wide Control System Design: Primary Controlled Variable Selection”, Computers & Chemical Engineering, 71, 220-234, 2014

• Jones D, Bhattacharyya D, Turton R, Zitney S, “Rigorous Kinetic Modeling and Optimization Study of a Modified Claus Unit for an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) Power Plant with CO2 Capture”,  Industrial  & Engineering Chemistry Research, 51, 2362-2375, 2012

• Jones D, Bhattacharyya D, Turton R, Zitney S, “Optimal Design and Integration of an Air Separation Unit (ASU) for an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) Power Plant with CO2 Capture”, Fuel Processing Technology, 92(9), 1685-1695, 2011

• Jones D, Bhattacharyya D, Turton R, Zitney S E, “Optimal Selection of Primary Controlled Variables for an Acid Gas Removal Unit as part of an IGCC Plant with CO2 Capture”,  Proceedings of the 2013 American Control Conference, pp 5035-5040, Washington, DC , June 17-19, 2013

• Jones D, Bhattacharyya D, Turton R, Zitney S E “Optimal Control System Design for IGCC Power Plants with CO2 Capture,” Proc. of the 29th Annual International Pittsburgh Coal Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, October 15-18 (2012)

• Jones D, Bhattacharyya D, Turton R, “Development of a Systematic Approach for Plant-Wide Control System Design”, Paper 665g, AIChE Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, November 16-21, 2014

• Jones D, Bhattacharyya D, Turton R, Zitney S E,  “Development of a Systematic Approach for Plant-Wide Control System Design and Its Application to an IGCC Power Plant”, 57th Annual ISA Power Industry Division Symposium, Scottsdale, AZ, June 2-4, 2014

• Jones D, Bhattacharyya D, Turton R, Zitney S E, “Optimal Secondary Controlled Variable Selection: Methodology and Its Application in an Acid Gas Removal Unit”, Paper 628a, AIChE Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, November 3-8, 2013 

• Jones D, Bhattacharyya D, Turton R, Zitney S E, “Optimal Selection of Primary Controlled Variables for an Acid Gas Removal Unit as part of an IGCC Plant with CO2 Capture”,  2013 American Control Conference, Washington, DC , June 17-19, 2013

• Jones D, Bhattacharyya D, Turton R, Zitney, S E, “Optimal control system design of an acid gas removal (AGR) unit for an IGCC power plant with CO2 capture”, Paper 186d, AIChE Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, October 28- November 2, 2012

• Jones D, Bhattacharyya D, Turton R, Zitney S E, “Optimal control system design for IGCC power plants with CO2 capture,” Session 51 Gasification: Modeling-3, 29th Annual International Pittsburgh Coal Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, October 15-18, 2012

• Jones D, Bhattacharyya D, Turton R, Zitney, S E, “Modeling and optimization of a modified Claus process as part of an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant with CO2 capture”, Paper 155f, presented at AIChE Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, October 16-21, 2011

• Jones D, Bhattacharyya D, Turton R, Zitney S, “Analysis of an air separation unit as part of an IGCC power plant”, Paper 280a, AIChE Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, November 7-12, 2010

• Jones D, Bhattacharyya D, Turton R, Zitney S, “Analysis of an air separation unit as part of an integrated gasification combined cycle power plant”, 85th West Virginia Academy of Science Meeting, Morgantown, WV, April 10, 2010