Development and design of the in-situ regeneration section of Vitrisol®, a novel, highly selective desulphurization process

Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) is a toxic, flammable and corrosive gas, frequently encountered in gas streams originating from natural resources. Removal of H2S is of utmost importance for safe process operations and the environment.Existing processes for the removal of H2S are applicable only for specific gas compositions and volumetric flow rates, because of process limitations and/or economics. Many regenerative H2S removal processes coabsorb CO2. Deep removal of H2S cannot always be guaranteed.To overcome these limitations the novel Vitrisol® desulphurization process was developed for the 100 % selective and instantaneous removal of H2S by precipitation with CuSO4 to CuS in an acidic sulphate solution, without the coabsorption of CO2. The absorption step was realized previously; in the course of this study the in-situ regeneration section was developed.The regeneration occurs two-fold; first Fe2+ ions are oxidized with oxygen to Fe3+, after which Fe3+ ions oxidize CuS to Cu2+ and elemental sulphur. Next sulphur is extracted and purified. Therefore, the oxidation of Fe2+ ions in the presence and absence of Cu2+ ions, the dissolution of CuS with Fe3+ ions and the solubility of sulphur in aromatic hydrocarbons were studied experimentally. With the obtained design rules, the Vitrisol® process with in-situ regeneration was demonstrated for applications in shale gas production by comparing them to standard amine-based gas treating processes. It was concluded that OPEX is reduced significantly by first removing H2S from a gas stream containing both H2S and CO2, prior to CO2 removal.The Intellectual Property (IP) is patented