Desulfurization performance in a HiGee reactor with packing containing different fiber cross-sectional shapes

HiGee reactors have been utilized for H2S removal from offshore natural gas by chelated iron solution, which exhibits great advantages due to their compact footprint. However, the blockage of packing in HiGee reactor caused by sulfur generation can lead to a decline of desulfurization efficiency. Herein, the fiber cross-sectional shape of mesh packing was optimized for alleviating blockage based on the understanding of liquid flow behavior with various single-layer meshes in our previous studies (Wen et al., Chem. Eng. Sci. 2022, 248, 117147). The novel packing with vertical quadrangular fibers and horizontal elliptical fibers (VQHE) as well as the conventional packing with circular fibers (VCHC) were designed and fabricated by three-dimensional printing technology. A rotating packed bed (RPB) reactor with mesh packing, as one of the typical HiGee reactors, was adopted for H2S removal. Results indicate that H2S removal efficiency of VQHE could reach up to 99.3%. The mass transfer coefficient of VQHE was 25.9% higher than that of VCHC. Meanwhile, the photograph displays that less sulfur solid was deposited on the surface of VQHE. The mass increase ratio of VQHE was smaller by 24.9% than that of VCHC. VQHE realized the integration of enhancing H2S removal efficiency and alleviating blockage in RPB reactor.