A Comparative Review on Different Processing Strategies for Treatment of Sulfone Waste of Oxidative Desulfurization Process

The desulfurization process is always one of the sensitive and important processes in the oil and gas industry. The presence of sulfur in hydrocarbon streams, in addition to the process problems it causes in refining sections, can produce hazardous gases and acid rain if found in fuel products. The oxidative desulfurization process is one of the new desulfurization methods to produce sulfur-free fuels. This process has some advantages over the hydrodesulfurization process such as not consuming valuable hydrogen, mild operating conditions, and simple elimination of sulfur-containing aromatic compounds. Despite the advantages of oxidative desulfurization, this process also faces challenges. One of the most important problems in this process is the waste treatment process, especially the mixture of sulfone compounds obtained from the process. In this study, various processes such as hydrodesulfurization, coking, gasification, and hydrocarbon recovery were studied to solve the problem of sulfone waste disposal. Also, a comparison has been done between the available technologies in terms of the requirement for new investment, the possibility of integration with refining units, and the level of maturity of the technology.