New Electroscrubbing Process for Desulfurization

A new process for removing sulfur from gas using electricity is presented. The process combines electrochemical production of active oxidizing species with an oxidative scrubber for desulfurization. Reactions for the electrochemical cell and the scrubbing tower are presented and a scrubbing set-up with a continuous electrolyte recirculation is validated on synthetic biogas. The test shows that a gas flow of 200 L/h with 1330 ppm H2S can be cleaned down to non-detectable levels of sulfur in a single step, at a current efficiency of 29%. This is a very high removal percentage for a high concentration of H2S. Solid sulfur can be removed from the system after the experiments. The sulfur has traces of NaClO and no other products were detected. A simple model based on estimated gas side mass transfer coefficients were used to estimate a scrubber height of only a few centimeters. The experiments supports the model.

This technology allows for a robust implementation of sulfur free applications in a future green fuel and green chemistry like Power-to-X (PtX) and carbon capture and utilization (CCU). Sulfur compounds are poison for most heterogeneous catalysts, thus for carbon utilization, the carbon gas source has to be desulfurized.