Reverse Jet Scrubber Helps Fertilizer Plant Control Emissions

Mosaic Fertilizer's Florida facility uses a MECS DynaWave reverse jet scrubber licensed by DuPont Clean Technologies.

U.S. company Mosaic Fertilizer starts up a new sulfur melter at its New Wales, Florida, facility using a MECS DynaWave reverse jet scrubber licensed by DuPont Clean Technologies (DuPont) to remove SO₂, H₂S and sulfur particulate. Mosaic produces and supplies concentrated phosphate nutrients and reportedly is the largest global consumer of sulfur.

Mosaic Fertilizer installed the new melting facility – at 1 million tons per annum sulfur capacity – to diversify its supply of sulfur, according to DuPont. The melter allows the company to receive, melt and filter solid, globally sourced sulfur.

As the project was being developed, Mosaic evaluated technology options to scrub the melter system off gases. Melter off gases can contain sulfur vapor, which condenses to a fine, hydrophobic particulate. Because the potential was high for conventional packed scrubbers to plug with the sulfur particulate, Mosaic selected the open design of a DynaWave wet gas scrubber. Froth zone technology allows for a high level of particulate removal, while simultaneously scrubbing SO₂ and H₂S, according to DuPont.

“At the new melting facility, SO₂ and H₂S collected in the DynaWave scrubber are chemically oxidized to sulfates," Yves Herssens, global product manager for the MECS DynaWave Technology, says. "The scrubber purge, containing both sulfates and sulfur particulate, is reused in an upstream process, making this a zero-wastewater process for Mosaic." 

Licensed by DuPont, MECS DynaWave scrubbers are designed to work with a variety of reagents and handle multiple functions in one vessel. The process makes it possible to quench the hot melter off gas and remove potential particulates while absorbing the acid gases from the gas stream. 

For more information, visit: www.cleantechnologies.dupont.com