PROCESS FOR REMOVING SULFUR AND SULFUR COMPOUNDS FROM THE EFFLUENT OF INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES

Sulfur dioxide in the stack gas from an industrial process is converted to elemental sulfur in a Claus reactor at low temperature to produce sulfur fume. The sulfur is condensed by direct heat transfer with a continuously flowing countercurrent recirculating catalyst and a substantially sulfur dioxide-free gas is discharged. Catalyst and condensed sulfur are fed into the top of a sulfur recovery column and heated in the top of the column by direct heat transfer with a countercurrent stream of recycle gas. The sulfur and catalyst descend into a vaporization zone of the column where sulfur is vaporized. The vaporized sulfur is carried by the recycle gas back towards the top of the column and condensed to a fume by incoming sulfur bearing catalyst. The sulfur fume is carried from the top of the column in cold recycle gas. Hot catalyst from the vaporization section of the column is cooled by recycle gas entering the bottome of the column. Sulfur fume is recovered conventionally. Regenerated catalyst from the column is returned to the sulfur dioxide reactor. Claus plant tail gas with air passes into the base of an incinerator and passes countercurrent to recycled heat transfer solids and is oxidized to convert sulfur and sulfur bearing compounds to sulfur dioxide. The sulfur dioxide is then converted to sulfur in the process just described.