On reaction kinetics for the thermal decomposition of hydrogen sulfide

Abstract New kinetic data for the hydrogen sulfide decomposition reaction obtained from quartz tubular reactors over a temperature range of 800–1,250°C are reported. The study shows that the overall decomposition reaction has a first‐order dependency on H 2 S concentrations at these temperatures. The regression of our experimental data gave an overall hydrogen sulfide decomposition reaction rate constant as k (m 3 /kmol·s) = (1.68±0.86)×10 11 exp [(−28,940±840)/T]. Moreover, for the first time, kinetic data from higher temperature (1,500–3,100°C) shock‐tube studies (Olschewski et al., 1994; Woiki and Roth, 1994) and the lower temperature flow reactor study (this work) are reconciled. A single rate constant for H 2 S decomposition reaction, k (m 3 /kmol·s) = (1.12±0.11)×10 11 exp [−(28,360±200)/T] over a wide temperature range of 800–3,100°C was found to represent satisfactorily the three sets of data.