{
  "authors": [],
  "basis": {
    "capacity": "per tonne of sulfur (the dataset's basis); no plant size"
  },
  "benchmarks": [
    {
      "dataset": "sulfur-claus-catalytic-oxidation-tgtu",
      "expression": "feed:electricity / product:sulfur",
      "family": "sulfuric-acid",
      "kpi": "sru-specific-electricity",
      "no_open_reference": "No open source independent of the dataset found (2026-11-05). The only open figure read is the REF BREF's 60 to 75 kWh/t for a 20 000 t/yr SRU (section 4.23.5.2.1, Table 4.85, p. 485), and the dataset takes its midpoint from that table, so binding it would only check the transcription. Read without a usable figure: US EPA AP-42 section 8.13 (no utilities), the REF BREF Table 3.88 site example (fuel only). Not readable: the JEAS Claus/THIOPAQ comparison doi:10.1186/s44147-023-00356-9 (download blocked; a search result shows only a plant-level 0.8 MW without the sulfur throughput).",
      "problem": "kWh/kg to kWh/t needs core's foundation.units (pip install 'cheme-as-code[units]')",
      "reference": null,
      "status": "unchecked",
      "title": "Electricity per t of sulfur recovered",
      "unit": "kWh/t",
      "value": null
    },
    {
      "dataset": "sulfur-claus-catalytic-oxidation-tgtu",
      "expression": "emission:NOX / product:sulfur",
      "family": "sulfuric-acid",
      "kpi": "sru-specific-nox",
      "problem": "1 to kg/t needs core's foundation.units (pip install 'cheme-as-code[units]')",
      "reference": {
        "basis": "unallocated",
        "conditions": {
          "capacity": "90 000 t/yr of sulfur",
          "region": "EU",
          "technology": "refinery SRU with incineration, yearly average from limit values"
        },
        "id": "bref-ref-sru-nox-site",
        "note": "One installation (Mitteldeutschland, 90 000 t/yr of sulfur), recorded as a zero-width range and not widened. The source says only limit values were given for it and the loads were calculated from them, so it is an upper view rather than a measurement.",
        "range": [
          0.58,
          0.58
        ],
        "source": {
          "accessed": "2026-11-05",
          "citation": "Barthe, P., Chaugny, M., Roudier, S., Delgado Sancho, L. (2015) Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference Document for the Refining of Mineral Oil and Gas. JRC Science and Policy Report EUR 27140 EN, doi:10.2791/010758",
          "kind": "bref",
          "locator": "Section 3.23.2, Table 3.88, p. 217",
          "url": "https://eippcb.jrc.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2019-11/REF_BREF_2015.pdf"
        }
      },
      "status": "unchecked",
      "title": "NOx (as NO2) to air per t of sulfur recovered",
      "unit": "kg/t",
      "value": null
    },
    {
      "dataset": "sulfur-claus-catalytic-oxidation-tgtu",
      "expression": "product:steam / product:sulfur",
      "family": "sulfuric-acid",
      "kpi": "sru-steam-export",
      "no_open_reference": "No open source independent of the dataset found (2026-11-05). The REF BREF's 1500 to 2000 kg/t (section 4.23.5.2.1, Table 4.85, p. 485) is the dataset's own source. AP-42 section 8.13.2 (p. 8.13-1) says only that the waste heat boiler raises high- to medium-pressure steam and that about 80 % of the heat released could be recovered, with no amount per t. As a plausibility check only (not a range): the overall Claus reaction releases about 6.9 GJ per t of sulfur (H2S(g) + 1/2 O2 to S + H2O(g), standard enthalpies of formation), so 80 % of it raises at most roughly 2.4 t of steam per t (about 2.3 GJ per t of steam from boiler feed water), a rough upper bound that the dataset's 1.75 t/t stays below.",
      "problem": "1 to t/t needs core's foundation.units (pip install 'cheme-as-code[units]')",
      "reference": null,
      "status": "unchecked",
      "title": "Steam produced per t of sulfur recovered",
      "unit": "t/t",
      "value": null
    },
    {
      "dataset": "sulfur-claus-catalytic-oxidation-tgtu",
      "expression": "product:sulfur / (feed:hydrogen-sulfide * 0.940838)",
      "family": "sulfuric-acid",
      "kpi": "sru-sulfur-recovery",
      "problem": "1 to % needs core's foundation.units (pip install 'cheme-as-code[units]')",
      "reference": {
        "basis": "unallocated",
        "conditions": {
          "region": "US",
          "technology": "Claus plant with tail gas treatment, followed by a thermal incinerator; acid gas of high H2S content",
          "year": 2015
        },
        "id": "ap42-claus-with-tail-gas-treatment",
        "note": "The text's range for Claus plants with tail gas treatment; without it, 92 to 97 %. Its default factors for a plant with a unit that extends the Claus reaction take 99 %. It does not separate catalytic direct oxidation (SuperClaus type) from amine-based units.",
        "range": [
          99,
          99.9
        ],
        "source": {
          "accessed": "2026-11-05",
          "citation": "US EPA (2015) AP-42, Compilation of Air Pollutant Emission Factors, 5th ed., Vol. I, section 8.13 Sulfur Recovery (revision 4/15)",
          "kind": "government",
          "locator": "Section 8.13.3, p. 8.13-2, and Table 8.13-1, p. 8.13-3",
          "url": "https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2020-09/documents/8.13_sulfur_recovery.pdf"
        }
      },
      "status": "unchecked",
      "title": "Sulfur recovery efficiency of a sulfur recovery unit (S recovered per S in the H2S feed)",
      "unit": "%",
      "value": null
    }
  ],
  "chemistry": {
    "inputs": [
      {
        "chemical": "hydrogen-sulfide",
        "grade": null,
        "inventory_key": "feed:hydrogen-sulfide",
        "note": "H2S of the amine acid gas; the other acid gas components are left out (dataset system_boundary)",
        "role": "feedstock"
      },
      {
        "chemical": "methane",
        "grade": null,
        "inventory_key": "feed:natural-gas",
        "note": "fuel of the line burners and the incinerator, natural gas taken as methane (ASSUMED)",
        "role": "feedstock"
      },
      {
        "chemical": "air",
        "grade": null,
        "note": "Claus furnace and incinerator air, free; its O2 is feed:O2",
        "role": "feedstock"
      },
      {
        "chemical": "water",
        "grade": null,
        "inventory_key": "feed:boiler-feed-water",
        "note": "boiler feed water, ASSUMED equal to the steam raised",
        "role": "feedstock"
      }
    ],
    "outputs": [
      {
        "chemical": "sulfur",
        "grade": null,
        "note": "product:sulfur: liquid sulfur to the pit, dissolved H2S counted as sulfur. No inventory_key on purpose: with one, the LCI build would link the sulfur feeds of sulfuric-acid-1 and thionyl-chloride-1 to this plant gate (no sulfur market yet, and the H2S feed is still a gap), a change those processes decide in their own lca/mappings.yaml",
        "role": "main-product"
      },
      {
        "chemical": "steam",
        "grade": null,
        "note": "product:steam: steam produced, 1.75 t/t, all taken as exported (ASSUMED), pressure not stated by the source; all burdens to the sulfur (dataset allocation)",
        "role": "co-product"
      },
      {
        "chemical": "carbon-dioxide",
        "grade": null,
        "inventory_key": "emission:CO2",
        "note": "fuel combustion; acid gas CO2 left out",
        "role": "emission"
      },
      {
        "chemical": "sulfur-dioxide",
        "grade": null,
        "inventory_key": "emission:SO2",
        "note": "sulfur not recovered, burnt to SO2 in the incinerator",
        "role": "emission"
      }
    ],
    "utilities": [
      {
        "chemical": "electricity",
        "grade": null,
        "inventory_key": "feed:electricity",
        "role": "utility"
      },
      {
        "chemical": "cooling-water",
        "grade": null,
        "inventory_key": "output:heat-rejected",
        "note": "counted as heat rejected (kWh) at the source's 10 K rise",
        "role": "utility"
      }
    ]
  },
  "description": "",
  "design_basis": null,
  "engineering": null,
  "facets": {
    "feedstock_basis": [
      "fossil"
    ],
    "product_classes": [
      "chemicals"
    ],
    "region": "EU",
    "unit_operations": [
      "combustion",
      "reaction",
      "condensation",
      "heat-exchange"
    ]
  },
  "families": [
    "sulfuric-acid"
  ],
  "gap_count": 1,
  "gates": null,
  "id": "sulfur-recovery-1",
  "issues": {
    "closed_count": 0,
    "list_url": "https://github.com/ChemE-as-Code/process-library/issues?q=is%3Aissue%20label%3A%22process%3Asulfur-recovery-1%22",
    "new": {
      "action": "https://github.com/ChemE-as-Code/process-library/issues/new?template=1-action-item.yml&labels=process%3Asulfur-recovery-1&process=sulfur-recovery-1",
      "change": "https://github.com/ChemE-as-Code/process-library/issues/new?template=4-design-change.yml&labels=process%3Asulfur-recovery-1&process=sulfur-recovery-1",
      "hold": "https://github.com/ChemE-as-Code/process-library/issues/new?template=2-engineering-hold.yml&labels=process%3Asulfur-recovery-1&process=sulfur-recovery-1",
      "process": "https://github.com/ChemE-as-Code/process-library/issues/new?template=6-process-development.yml&labels=process%3Asulfur-recovery-1&process=sulfur-recovery-1",
      "tq": "https://github.com/ChemE-as-Code/process-library/issues/new?template=3-technical-query.yml&labels=process%3Asulfur-recovery-1&process=sulfur-recovery-1",
      "tracker": "https://github.com/ChemE-as-Code/process-library/issues/new?template=7-process-tracker.yml&labels=process%3Asulfur-recovery-1&process=sulfur-recovery-1"
    },
    "open": [],
    "open_by_gate": {},
    "open_count": 0,
    "private": false,
    "repository": "ChemE-as-Code/process-library"
  },
  "keywords": [
    "sulfur recovery",
    "SRU",
    "Claus process",
    "modified Claus",
    "tail gas treatment",
    "SuperClaus",
    "acid gas",
    "hydrogen sulfide",
    "incinerator",
    "SO2 emissions"
  ],
  "lca": null,
  "lci_gaps": [
    {
      "dataset": "sulfur-claus-catalytic-oxidation-tgtu",
      "key": "feed:hydrogen-sulfide",
      "link": "technosphere",
      "type": "input"
    }
  ],
  "maintainers": [],
  "maturity": "concept",
  "preliminary": true,
  "provenance": {
    "library_commit": "a3c52e472f42fbc8cdacfeacf5ef28703c004174",
    "previews": null,
    "previews_stale": false,
    "source_commit": "a3c52e472f42fbc8cdacfeacf5ef28703c004174"
  },
  "publication": {
    "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
    "status": "public"
  },
  "references": [
    {
      "doi": "10.2791/010758",
      "title": "Barthe, P., Chaugny, M., Roudier, S., Delgado Sancho, L. (2015) Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference Document for the Refining of Mineral Oil and Gas. JRC Science and Policy Report EUR 27140 EN (JRC94879), sections 3.23.2, 4.23.5.2 and 5.17"
    },
    {
      "title": "US EPA (2015) AP-42, Compilation of Air Pollutant Emission Factors, 5th ed., Vol. I, chapter 8.13 Sulfur Recovery (revision 4/15)",
      "url": "https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2020-09/documents/8.13_sulfur_recovery.pdf"
    },
    {
      "title": "U.S. Geological Survey (2024) Mineral Commodity Summaries 2024, Sulfur, pp. 172-173 (sources of recovered sulfur; route dominance)",
      "url": "https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2024/mcs2024-sulfur.pdf"
    }
  ],
  "repository": {
    "access": "public",
    "path": "processes/sulfur-recovery-1",
    "url": "https://github.com/ChemE-as-Code/process-library"
  },
  "representations": [],
  "summary": "Sourced conceptual inventory per tonne of liquid sulfur from refinery acid gas: recovery, fuel, electricity, steam and cooling water from the EU REF BREF, incinerator NOx, CO and hydrocarbons from US EPA AP-42. Steam exported as a co-product. No flowsheet; not reviewed.",
  "title": "Sulfur recovery from acid gas by the modified Claus process with a catalytic oxidation tail gas unit",
  "validation": {
    "status": "unreviewed"
  },
  "viewer": null
}