Sour water from amine units, sulphur recovery and condensate separation carries hydrogen sulphide — toxic, corrosive and odorous — usually alongside ammonia and dissolved hydrocarbons. Removing it safely is a specialist duty that protects people, plant and the receiving environment.
Safe, specification-driven sour-water treatment
A steam-stripping column drives dissolved H₂S (and ammonia) out of the water; the acid-gas overhead is routed to the sulphur-recovery or thermal-oxidation system, never vented.
Residual or low-flow H₂S is removed by chemical scavengers or by oxidation, polishing the water below discharge and reuse limits after the main stripper.
Dissolved gas is released under control to a closed vent system — never to atmosphere — with the gas detection and interlocks a toxic, flammable stream demands.
Enclosed, ATEX-rated equipment, gas detection and emergency isolation protect operators across the whole sour-water train.
Hydrogen sulphide in water is a weak acid in equilibrium between dissolved H₂S gas and the bisulphide ion: H₂S ↔ H⁺ + HS⁻ (pKa ≈ 7). Only the un-ionised H₂S can be stripped or volatilised, so the removal duty is strongly pH-dependent — at low pH the balance sits toward free H₂S (easy to strip), while at high pH it shifts to bisulphide (held in solution). Sour-water stripping exploits this with heat and steam to push H₂S out of solution, while ammonia — which behaves oppositely with pH — is managed in the same or a downstream column. Getting the pH, temperature and steam ratio right is what separates a stripper that meets its overhead-gas and effluent targets from one that does neither.
A related page in the sour-water and refinery treatment train.
Read MoreA related page in the sour-water and refinery treatment train.
Read MoreA related page in the sour-water and refinery treatment train.
Read MoreA related page in the sour-water and refinery treatment train.
Read MoreReynolds & Bauhm designs sour-water stripping, H₂S removal and ammonia treatment as a safe, enclosed, ATEX-rated system — sized to your stream and your discharge or sulphur-recovery targets.
Our expertise spans multiple industries with sector-specific water treatment solutions.