HIGH EFFICIENCY DESULFURIZATION OF SYNTHESIS GAS

Mixed metal oxides containing CeO{sub 2} and ZrO{sub 2} are being studied as high temperature desulfurization sorbents capable of achieving the DOE Vision 21 target of 1 ppmv of less H{sub 2}S. The research is justified by recent results in this laboratory that showed that reduced CeO{sub 2}, designated CeO{sub n} (1.5 < n < 2.0), is capable of achieving the 1 ppmv target in highly reducing gas atmospheres. The addition of ZrO{sub 2} has improved the performance of oxidation catalysts and three-way automotive catalysts containing CeO{sub 2}, and should have similar beneficial effects on CeO{sub 2} desulfurization sorbents. An electrochemical method for synthesizing CeO{sub 2}-ZrO{sub 2} has been developed and the products have been characterized by XRD and TEM during year 01. Nanocrystalline particles having a diameter of about 5 nm and containing from approximately 10 mol% to 80 mol% ZrO{sub 2} have been prepared. XRD showed the product to be a solid solution at low ZrO{sub 2} contents with a separate ZrO{sub 2} phase emerging at higher ZrO{sub 2} levels. Phase separation did not occur when the solid solutions were heat treated at 700 C. A flow reactor system constructed of quartz and teflon has been constructed, and a gas chromatograph equipped with a pulsed flame photometric detector (PFPD) suitable for measuring sub-ppmv levels of H{sub 2}S has been purchased with LSU matching funds. Preliminary desulfurization tests using commercial CeO{sub 2} and CeO{sub 2}-ZrO{sub 2} in highly reducing gas compositions has confirmed that CeO{sub 2}-ZrO{sub 2} is more effective than CeO{sub 2} in removing H{sub 2}S. At 700 C the product H{sub 2}S concentration using CeO{sub 2}-ZrO{sub 2} sorbent was near the 0.1 ppmv PFPD detection limit during the prebreakthrough period