Sulfur Removal and Recovery

AbstractThe removal and recovery of sulfur species is practiced to limit sulfur emissions to the environment and for larger sulfur capacities, to recover a valuable sulfur product. The most common applications are the removal of hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide and subsequent conversion to elemental sulfur. Many processes have been developed for the recovery of each of these sulfur species, typically consisting of one or more of the following steps: adsorption of the hydrogen sulfide or sulfur dioxide on a solid; absorption of the sulfur species into a solvent via chemical reaction or physical gas–liquid solubility; and conversion of hydrogen sulfide or sulfur dioxide to elemental sulfur. Other, nonconventional processes are being developed such as thermal cracking of hydrogen sulfide to produce sulfur and hydrogen.