Optimal temperature of fixed-bed reactor for high temperature removal of hydrogen sulfide

To find optimal temperature of the reaction between H₂S gas and ZnO-5 at% Fe₂O₃ sorbent, the effluent gas from a fixed-bed reactor was analyzed by gas chromatography. The experimental results showed that H₂S removal efficiency of sorbent was maximum at 650°C and EDX data were in accordance with this feature. XRD analysis exhibited intriguing phenomenon in that different mechanisms were observed at different temperatures. Chemisorption and chemical reaction was considered to be the main mechanism of H₂S removal at 600 C and 650°C, respectively. SEM photographs supported this interesting phenomenon, but unfortunately TGA and DTA results could not distinguish it. To investigate the effect of sorbent deactivation on the reaction rate, deactivating factor was considered.