PVS Chemicals Belgium N.V. (PVS) says it has successfully started up a new MECS converter and steaming equipment licensed by DuPont Clean Technologies (DuPont) at its sulfuric acid plant in Gent, Belgium. The new 4-pass converter which offers a plant capacity increase to approximately 300 mtpd sulfuric acid replaces two parallel converter trains. The converter upgrade along with new steaming equipment will reportedly allow PVS to double the plant’s saturated steam output. PVS can supply steam generated from the new boilers to an industrial neighbor and prevent approximately 11,700 tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere every year – roughly equivalent to planting 195,000 trees annually, according to the company. The PVS sulfuric acid plant in Gent is one of the few sites globally to produce ultra-high purity sulfuric acid, a critical ingredient for the semiconductor chip industry.
PVS kicked off its multi-phased plant revamp project in 2018 with a process and engineering assessment by DuPont who was subsequently commissioned with the license and engineering design of the MECS converter, catalyst and steaming equipment. The design included additional steaming equipment to maximize energy recovery and new generation MECS GEAR catalyst to optimize CAPEX. Erection of the equipment, which started in early 2020, was hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, but DuPont and PVS Belgium safely and reportedly completed the erection and tie-in of the new equipment in partnership during a three-week turnaround. DuPont provided support during commissioning, training, start-up and performance tests. PVS and DuPont will be co-presenting a paper on this project at CRU Sulphur 2021 on November 4, 2021.
For more information, visit: www.dupont.com
