An Analysis of Sulfur Control Strategies for the Oil Shale Industry

An analysis of the sulfur compounds that are potential pollutants in the oil shale industry, particularly on the distribution of sulfur species in the retort off-gas is presented. The analysis has a dual purpose: 1) to demonstrate what an owner or operator must consider in devising a system to comply with existing SO/sub 2/ emissions limits; and 2) to highlight some of the problems with the data available for making these decisions. Two control systems are considered: the Stretford H/sub 2/S removal process and flue gas desulfurization (FGD). Four model plants (A, B, C, and D) are used in the analysis. Plant A is based on data from the Paraho direct-fired surface retort; Plant B on the Occidental modified in-situ retort; Plant C on the Union SGR-3 indirect-fired hot-gas retort; and Plant D on the TOSCO II retort operating in the indirect-fired, hot-solid mode. The authors determined that Plants C and D should have little problem meeting the Colorado State regulation using Stretford technology. Plants A and B - those based on direct-fired processes - will probably not be able to meet the regulations using only Stretford technology. Plant A was able to achieve compliance using FGD alone, but evenmore » a combination of Stretford and FGD may not be able to bring Plant B into compliance. (JMT)« less