SO _x emission and pollution control at Mellitah Gas Plant

Due to the increase of energy consumption, natural gas energy is becoming one of the most important sources to fulfil the world energy demand. However, normally the available raw natural gas is mixed with some heavy components such as C₃ ⁺ and/or some impurities such as CO₂, N₂ and sulfur compounds (H₂S and RSH). The raw gas should be treated in order to meet the international specifications and eliminate or at least minimize the emission of toxic and/or pollutant gases to the surrounding area. Mellitah Plant applies the latest technology in order to meet the international standards. In this paper, we will present the different process at Mellitah site in which we produce a clean natural gas for export and recover 99.8 wt% of associated sulfur compound with the raw gas and/or acid gas. The recovered sulfur is produced in liquid phase then dried for storage in solid phase. The solid sulfur is exported to international market. The emission control at Mellitah plant is optimized and controlled as per the latest available technology. The fuel gas utilized for all the process is completely clean gas; flue gas contains always less than 10 ppm of H₂S. Therefore, the burned gas produced mainly CO₂ and H₂O with a trace amount of SO _x . If SO _x emission at Mellitah is compared to any other industrial complex in Libya or any other similar plant any elsewhere utilizing fuel oil and/or diesel oil then the Mellitah emission will be the lowest.