The gas-solid trickle-flow reactor for the catalytic oxidation of hydrogen sulphide: a trickle-phase model

The oxidation of H2S by O2 producing elemental sulphur has been studied at temperatures of 100–300°C and at atmospheric pressure in a laboratory-scale gas-solid trickle-flow reactor. In this reactor one of the reaction products, i.e. sulphur, is removed continuously by flowing solids. A porous, free-flowing catalyst carrier has been used which contains a NaX zeolite acting as a catalyst as well as a sulphur adsorbent. In order to describe mass transfer in the trickle-flow reactor, a reactor model has been developed in which a particle-free, upflowing gas phase and a dense, downflowing gas-solids suspension, the so-called trickle phase, are distinguished. Within the trickle phase, diffusion of the reactants parallel to reaction in the catalyst particles takes place. The mass transfer rate from the gas phase to the trickle phase has been evaluated by the reaction of H2S with SO2, which is a much faster reaction than the reaction with O2. From the experiments and from the reactor model calculations it appears that for the H2S-O2 reaction no mass transfer limitations occur at temperatures up to about 200°C, whereas at 300°C gas-phase mass transfer and diffusion within the dense solids suspension offer resistance to reaction.