Removal of H2S in air by corona discharge under continuous flow condition

Abstract

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas diluted in air was removed on a large scale using a newly developed wet electrostatic precipitator (Wet-EP) system under the continuous flow condition at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. Acid H2S is spontaneously neutralized by NaOH and KOH used as basic materials at room temperature. And then, the solid salts generated from neutralization reaction were removed by the electrostatic precipitation method using corona discharge. The experimental variables are reaction ratio between H2S and basic materials, reaction time and plasma input power for the removal of generated solid salts. The purpose of this work is to determine optimal operating conditions and space velocity. The removal efficiencies of H2S and dust were over 99% at H2S initial concentration of 600 ppm and the total flow rate of 2 m3/min. The optimal space velocities for NaOH and KOH are almost from 12000 to 15000 hr−1 at reaction time of 0.06 and 0.048 seconds, respectively. In conclusion, KOH is more efficient than NaOH for removal of H2S.