Sulfur Pit Maintenance 1

[mcmidkiff]

We have a leak in our sulfur pit heating coils. TEG is the heat medium and the leak is in coils, below the liquid/vapor interface.

There was a fire in one of the condesers that caused the TEG to get very hot. Within a week the leaks developed in two of the four heat medium coils.

I plan to use a diaphram pump rated for 350 deg F to pump the sulfur (below the existing pump suction) out of the pit. Any comments?

Would overheating the TEG cause corrosion in the coils. I believe the boiling point of sulfur is over 800 degrees. I doubt that we got that hot, since no one mentioned glowing metal in the heat medium piping!

 

[ponderer]

Why use TEG in the coil?
It is more dangerous when there is a leak.

We use steam as heating medium.

You can extent the shaft of existing sulfur pump to pump out the sulfur in the pit.

 

[mcmidkiff]

The system was designed with TEG rather than steam and we don't have a steam system in the plant. I'd rather have steam, but I don't think I have economics for the changeout.

 

[Canoman]

McMidkiff,

The thing you've got to worry about when heating liquid sulfur is the viscosity. Liquid sulfur has an odd viscosity curve. I can't find a very good online source of the curve, but if you look in this PDF file, you can see what it looks like.

Lewis Sulfur Pump:

http://www.weirclearliquid.com/weir...phurBrochure.pdf/$FILE/007SulphurBrochure.pdf

Also, here's a little blurb about it found at the following link:

http://www.pillard.com/alt_fuels.html

[tt]"Liquid sulphur is used as a fuel in all chemical units which produce sulphuric acid from SO₂ by combustion. A very particular aspect of liquid sulphur is its viscosity curve : Sulphur comes in liquid form close to 145°C. Then, its viscosity starts to increase from about 157°C and reaches a viscosity of 90 000 centipoises at 190°C. This is why it is necessary to maintain its temperature between specific limits of between 145 and 155°C."[/tt]