Selective Catalytic Oxidation of Lean-H2S Gas Stream to Elemental Sulfur at Lower Temperature

Ceria-supported vanadium catalysts were studied for H2S removal via partial and selective oxidation reactions at low temperature. The catalysts were characterized by N2 adsorption at 77 K, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction techniques, and X-ray fluorescence analysis. X-ray diffraction and Raman analysis showed a good dispersion of the V-species on the support. A preliminary screening of these samples was performed at fixed temperature (T = 327 °C) and H2S inlet concentration (10 vol%) in order to study the catalytic performance in terms of H2S conversion and SO2 selectivity. For the catalyst that exhibited the higher removal efficiency of H2S (92%) together with a lower SO2 selectivity (4%), the influence of temperature (307–370 °C), contact time (0.6–1 s), and H2S inlet concentration (6–15 vol%) was investigated.