Removal of hydrogen sulfide by clinoptilolite in a fixed bed adsorber

Due to its toxic and corrosive nature, H2S should be safely removed from the gases produced in gasification or combustion processes. In this study, adsorption of hydrogen sulfide was investigated on a natural zeolite, namely clinoptilolite. H2S adsorption characteristics of Western Anatolian clinoptilolite was studied in a fixed-bed system at different temperatures between 100 and 600 °C at atmospheric pressure. H2S adsorption capacity of clinoptilolite was found to be about 0.03 g S/g clinoptilolite at 600 °C. A deactivation model considering concentration dependence of activity term was applied to experimental results and adsorption rate constant and activation energy values were evaluated. Good agreement of the experimental breakthrough curves with the model predictions was observed.