Removal of hydrogen sulfide using palygorskite in a fixed bed adsorber

This work describes the use of a novel palygorskite, a type of magnesium aluminium silicate clay possessing a high specific surface area and pore surface activity, as a low cost and highly efficient adsorbent for hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) removal. Adsorption of H₂S on palygorskite pretreated with acid or base was investigated in a fixed bed adsorber. The samples after base pretreatment had better dynamic adsorption performances than raw material and samples pretreated with acid. The H₂S adsorption capacity decreased with an increase in inlet H₂S concentration. This can be interpreted by the fact that H₂S adsorption on the surface of palygorskite is chemisorption. The adsorption capacity increased from 25 to 50 °C, then decreased from 50 to 100 °C, which indicates that chemisorption took place and its better reaction temperature was around 50 °C.