Reactive H2S chemisorption on mesoporous silica molecular sieve-supported CuO or ZnO

Abstract:

Natural gas, a valuable energy carrier, can be used as a fuel or as a raw material for the production of synthesis gas and hydrogen. However, significant quantities of undesirable contaminants, especially hydrogen sulfide (H <inf>2</inf>S), generate harmful environmental emissions. The objective of this work was to develop a scavenger system for the H<inf>2</inf>S removal at room temperature. The potential of mesoporous silica molecular sieve (MSU-1) supported ZnO or CuO adsorbents has been studied at room temperature for H <inf>2</inf>S removal to develop a more effective adsorbent for this important application. Zn²⁺ or Cu²⁺ loadings of 10, 20 and 30 wt.% were incorporated by the incipient wetness method. The obtained solids were characterized by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature programmed reduction (TPR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and N<inf>2</inf> adsorption/desorption, using the BET method, to investigate their various characteristics. The MSU-1 support did not show activity for H<inf>2</inf>S removal, however the addition of copper or zinc increased the removal performance. The most active solids for H<inf>2</inf>S were 10Zn/MSU-1 (42.3 mg g^-1) and 20Cu/MSU-1 (19.2 mg g^-1). A decrease in H <inf>2</inf>S removal was observed at a zinc loading higher than 10 wt.% (14.8 and 11.5 mg g^-1 for 20 and 30Zn/MSU-1), while 10Cu/MSU-1 presented a low adsorption capacity (10.9 mg g^-1) and 30Cu/MSU-1 has a similar performance than that of 20Cu/MSU-1. The adsorption capacity of the obtained materials strongly depends on the pore system as well as the well-proportioned distribution of the active phase inside the porous material and the size of metal oxide nanoparticles. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Año de publicación:

2013

Keywords:

• Mesoporous silica
• Metal oxide content

Fuente:

scopus