Hydrogen sulfide filtration combustion: comparison of theory and experiment

Abstract

Filtration combustion waves in an inert porous media were analyzed comparatively for lean and rich H 2S–air mixtures. Temperature, velocity, and chemical products of the combustion wave were studied experimentally in the range of equivalence ratios from 0.1 to 5.5. Downstream (superadiabatic) wave propagation was observed for ultra-lean ( ϕ⩽0.45) and ultra-rich ( ϕ⩾1.7) mixtures. Upstream (underadiabatic) propagation corresponds to the range of equivalence ratios from 0.45 to 1.7. It was found that, with equal heat content, rich mixtures have higher combustion temperatures than corresponding lean mixtures. The products of partial H 2S oxidation, H 2, and S 2 are dominant for ultra-rich superadiabatic combustion, where up to 60% of H 2S was converted to S 2 and H 2. For lean mixtures, the dominant products were H 2O, SO 2, and H 2SO 4.