Progress on hydrogen sulfide removal: From catalytic oxidation to plasma-assisted treatment

• Published in: Chemosphere (Oxford) Vol. 364; p. 143174
• Main Authors: Wang, Shengfei, Rohani, Vandad, Leroux, Patrick, Gracian, Catherine, Nastasi, Valerie, Fulcheri, Laurent
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2024; Elsevier
• Subjects: air pollution; catalysts; catalytic activity; Catalytic oxidation; Engineering Sciences; H2S; hydrogen sulfide; Industrial practice; Mass transfer; Non-thermal plasma; oxidation; porosity; relative humidity; Scale-up; temperature; H2S; Industrial practice; Catalytic oxidation; Non-thermal plasma; Mass transfer; Scale-up; HS
• ISSN: 0045-6535; 1879-1298; 1879-1298
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.143174

Air pollution is a long-standing environmental challenge as well an important economic subject. Hydrogen sulfide is one the major pollutants in the industrial releases. This review focuses on the thermochemical treatment of hydrogen sulfide based on the most recent works to date regarding its removal. By analyzing fundamental steps in chemical reaction engineering, some useful factors are emphasized since they are often neglected in scientific studies, catalysts design and process scale-up. From processing side, the fluid flow conditions including velocity, H2S concentration, relative humidity, temperature and pressure strongly influence the kinetic behavior and so the catalytic performance of the H2S removal reactor. From material side, the catalyst properties including nature, porosity, pore types, size, sites distribution and layer structuration largely influence the removal performance via among others the accessibility to catalytic sites, pores connection and mass transfer resistance. Plasma-assisted catalytic removal of H2S combines many novelties in comparison with a classical thermo-catalytic process. From patents review, we can see that main concerns are about electrodes mounting, reactor lifetime and modular design to solve the problems in the industrial practice. We attempt to provide for scientists, engineers and industrialists a guidance on the design of catalysts and processes for H2S removal which could be applied in laboratorial studies and industrial processes as well. [Display omitted] •Thermo-catalytic oxidation of H2S and their latest progress.•The influence of fluid's flow on kinetic behaviour and catalytic performance.•Porous characteristics and layer structure largely influence H2S removal.•Plasma technologies became attractive for high-efficient H2S abatement.•Modular design and electrodes mounting are the keys to industrial problems.