Claims
- 1. A method for removing hydrogen sulfide from a gas stream comprising the step of:
- contacting a hydrogen sulfide containing gas stream with a liquid redox solution in a walled essentially hollow housing wherein the liquid redox solution is passed axially and the hydrogen sulfide containing gas stream is introduced through a plurality of gas inlet openings tangentially distributed about the housing resulting in tangential gas flow along the wall to eliminate stagnation at the wall and turbulent mixing of the liquid with the gas with at least a portion of the sulfur originally contained in the gas stream forming a solid, preventing deposition of solid sulfur on the internal surface of the housing.
- 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the hydrogen sulfide containing gas stream is a stream of hydrogen sulfide containing natural gas.
- 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the liquid redox solution comprises an iron-based absorbent agent.
- 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the occurrence of non-moving fluid adjacent surfaces within the housing is avoided.
- 5. A method for contacting a hydrogen sulfide containing gas with a liquid redox solution comprising the steps of:
- passing a liquid redox solution axially through a contact zone of an elongated walled housing,
- introducing a hydrogen sulfide containing gas into the contact zone through a plurality of gas inlet openings tangentially distributed about the housing resulting in tangential gas flow along the housing wall and elimination of stagnation at the wall, and
- contacting the axially passing solution with the introduced gas to form solid sulfur;
- wherein the tangential gas flow resulting from the introduction of the gas prevents deposition of the solid sulfur on the internal surface of the housing.
- 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the liquid redox solution comprises an iron-based absorbent agent.
- 7. The method of claim 5 wherein the hydrogen sulfide containing gas is hydrogen sulfide containing natural gas.
- 8. The method of claim 5 wherein the housing is free of added mixing devices.
- 9. The method of claim 5 wherein the hydrogen sulfide containing gas contains sulfur in a relative amount of between about 100 ppm and about 50 volume percent measured in terms of hydrogen sulfide.
- 10. The method of claim 9 wherein the hydrogen sulfide containing gas is natural gas containing no more than about 4 to 5 volume percent sulfur measured in terms of hydrogen sulfide.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 60/038,831, filed Feb. 7, 1997, the disclosure of which earlier application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part hereof, including but not limited to those portions which specifically appear hereinafter.
US Referenced Citations (12)
Foreign Referenced Citations (4)
Number |
Date |
Country |
885853 |
Sep 1943 |
FRX |
975037 |
Nov 1982 |
SUX |
1577809A1 |
Jul 1990 |
SUX |
1820853A3 |
Jun 1993 |
SUX |