This Day in History
This Day in History (1979): Sulfur recovery facilities operating at Berri Gas Plant
The facility is the first of three gas treatment plants to be completed, with the other two at Shedgum and ‘Uthmaniyah.
From the July 25, 1979, edition of The Arabian Sun
The first module of a two-module sulfur recovery plant went on stream July 13 at the Berri Gas Plant, located a few kilometers west of Jubail.
The Berri plant, a gas collection and compression center, is the forerunner in basic design and principle for the Saudi Government's Gas Program and is the first of three major gas treatment plants to be completed: the other two are being constructed at Shedgum and 'Uthmaniyah.
The plant at Berri processes "sour" gas produced in association with oil from the Berri field. Berri crude oil flows into Berri Gas-Oil Separator Plants (GOSPs) 1 and 2, which are located near the plant, and into Berri GOSPs 3 and 4, which are located on Abu 'Ali Island.
After processing at the GOSPs, the gas and liquid condensate are routed to the Berri Gas Plant via separate pipelines running from the GOSPs.
Incoming as is "sweetened" at the plant by the removal of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide. The resultant stream of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide is then fed to the sulfur recovery facilities, where almost al the hydrogen sulfide is converted to sulfur.
"Now that the first module of the sulfur recovery plant is operating, we are recovering about 700 long tons of sulfur per day," said Ray Henderson, superintendent of Berri Gas Operations.
"When both modules are operation," he said. "the design capacity will be approximately 1,400 long tons of sulfur per day."
The produced sulfur is currently being stored in a blocking and storage area just west of the plant.
Caption for top photo: A section of the new sulfur recovery facilities at the Berri Gas Plant.
Also on this day
2019 — National extreme heat records fall on this day in the U.K., Belgium, The Netherlands, and Germany
2010 — WikiLeaks publishes classified documents about the War in Afghanistan, one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history
2007 — Pratibha Patil is sworn in as India's first female president
1997 — American golfer Ben Hogan dies in Fort Worth, Texas, at the age of 84
1978 — Louise Joy Brown becomes the first human to have been born after conception by in vitro fertilization
1976 — "Viking 1" takes the famous Face on Mars photo
1965 — Bob Dylan goes electric at the Newport Folk Festival, signaling a major change in folk and rock music
1946 — The Crossroads Baker device becomes the first nuclear weapon tested underwater
1917 — Sir Robert Borden introduces the first income tax in Canada
1897 — Author Jack London embarks on a sailing trip to take part in the Klondike gold rush, serving as the inspiration of his first stories
1868 — The Wyoming Territory is established in the U.S.
1837 — The first commercial use of an electrical telegraph is successfully demonstrated in London by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone
1792 — The Brunswick Manifesto is issued to the population of Paris promising vengeance if the French royal family is harmed
1668 — A massive earthquake strikes eastern China, killing more than 42,000 people
306 — Constantine I is proclaimed Roman emperor
