GAS ARABIA SUMMIT, 5th annual meeting
Sour Gas Meeting
Liquid Sulphur H andling Facilities and Long D istance Pipelines
Rolf Szczepanek, 31/01/2010
Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Table of Contents
Physical Properties
Heating
Station
Systems
facilities
Pumps
Loading / Unloading Facilities
Tanks
Solidification units
Silo
Pipelines
Main
Project Risks
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Physical Properties of -Sulphur
9
1800
1790
6
5
1780
density / kg/m
viscosity / mm/s
viscosity
density
4
3
120
130
140
150
1770
160
temperature / C
narrow operating range (125C to 150C) special demands
on redundancy, heating and insulation
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Heating Systems
Station
piping, valves
and pumps
Jacketing or tracing
Pipelines
Electrical
Steam
Conventional Heating Cables
Hot Water
Skin Effect Heating System
Thermal Oil
Hot water
Electrical heating cables
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Heating Systems, boiler unit
TO-Heaters
Brake
2 x 700 kW
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Heating Systems, Pipes
Pipe in Pipe System for
heating by Thermo-Oil,
Hot Water, Steam
Fixed
support
of
jacketed
pipe
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Heating Systems, jacketed Pumps and Valves
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Station facilities, Pumps
Centrifugal Pumps
conventional coupled
magnetically coupled
Screw Pumps
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Station facilities, Loading / Unloading Facilities
Railway Unloading
Station, Brake
5 x 60 m / h
Screw pumps
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Station facilities, Loading / Unloading Facilities
NPSHA = 1.6 m
Screw pumps
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Station facilities, Tanks
10,000 to, Sulphur Plant Brake / Germany
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Station Facilities, Tanks
Insulation
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Station Facilities, Tanks
Heating coils on bottom
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Roof heating
system
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Station Facilities, Solidification
Granulation
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Station Facilities, Solidification
Pastilation
Flaking
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Station facilities, Silo
10,000 to, Sulphur Plant
Brake / Germany
spiral slide
conveyor
emptying tube
discharge opening
air in-/outlet
emptying tube
discharge opening
swelling (Beton)
gangway
ridged roof, 35 (concrete)
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bottom plate (concrete)
supporting wall (concrete)
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Pipelines
Special
Design Criteria
Decision on heating system; Electrical (conventional / skin effect) or hot water
Sectioning: optimization of length and voltage
Redundancy: two independent circuits
Pre-tensioning and/or expansion elbows
Special design of insulation, and supports
SCADA
temperature and viscosity profile
set point for temperature controllers
calculation of survival time
monitor insulation quality
Displacement system
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Pipelines
solid density ~2000 kg/m3
re-melting is critical due to ~10 % volume increase
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Pipelines, Heating Systems
Electrical/C onventional, 3 Line, 4.5 km
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Pipelines, Heating Systems
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Electrical/Skin Effect
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Pipelines, Heating Systems
Heat loss: ~ 90 W/m (8/12-Pipeline, 6-return line)
Max. distance of Heater stations, existing: appr. 40 km
(Shells Caroline-Shantz pipeline, 41 km, worlds longest sulphur
pipeline)
Disadvantages:
Hot Water return line (6)
increased heating requirements
Deaeration
No redundant heating circuit
Advantages:
Increased heat capacity
more time in case of failure
Remelting from the end
reduced risk of bursting
Long heating sections
Hot Water Heating System
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Pipelines, Supports
4 Line, Underground, Pipe in Pipe System Voigtei Barenburg, 7
km
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Pipelines, Supports and Expansion Elbows
3 Sulphur Pipeline, Buschhaus Alversdorf, 4.5 km
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Pipelines, supports
sliding support
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ILF design
fixed-point support
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Liquid Sulphur Handling Facilities and Long Distance Pipelines
Main Project Risks
Insulation No cold bridges
Efficient heating system sufficient, but not too much
Selection of Pumps very critical
Possibility of Pipeline Draining or Displacement No stop of
flow
Redundancy (flow, displacement system, energy)
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Liquid Sulphur H andling Facilities and Long D istance Pipelines
Thank you for your attention!
