Studying the Dependence of the Performance Efficiency of a Claus Reactor on Technological Factors with the Quality Evaluation of Sulfur on the Basis of Fuzzy Information

Abstract

It has been determined that the principal parameters influencing the performance efficiency of a reactor at the thermal stage are as follows: the sour gas and its composition at the inlet into a Claus reactor, the air : sour gas ratio, the time the reaction mixture resides in a reactor, and the temperature and pressure in the reactor. At the same time, it has been established that the reactor temperature and pressure, the degree of catalyst activity, and the gases–catalyst contact time have an effect on the performance efficiency of a reactor at the catalytic stage. The effects produced by these process parameters on the performance efficiency of the Claus reactor of a sulfur production plant at the thermal and catalytic stages have been studied. The graphic dependences of the effect produced by the selected technological factors on the characteristics of sulfur production technology processes have been plotted. Some linguistic models of evaluating the quality of produced commercial sulfur have been developed, engaging the production model for the knowledge of expert specialists with the use of the initial fuzzy expert information. The resulting linguistic models make it possible to evaluate the quality of sulfur and its grade, depending on the mass fraction of sulfur, ash, organic compounds, and water. To describe the fuzzy term high quality of sulfur, corresponding membership functions have been constructed.