Today, refineries are struggling to find ways to dispose of their increasing amount of sulfurous streams and waste products.
Large amounts of high-sulfur residuals, particularly heavy oil and petroleum coke, are being produced and sold as fuel to the marine market or the cement industry.
The largest SNOX plant in operation treats 1,200,000 Nm³/h flue gas from four petroleum coke fired boilers at a refinery in Sicily, Italy.
The process catalytically reduces both the SO2 and the NOx in flue gases by more than 95% and with integration of the recovered heat from the WSA condenser it is reported to have lower operating costs than conventional technologies.
A cheap high-sulfur fuel such as petroleum coke can be used for power generation, while the flue gas is cleaned in an SNOX plant producing sulfuric acid.