Experimental Investigation on Converting the Acid Gas of an HDS Unit to High-Value Products by Methanol Thiolation: Case Study

The possibility of using acid gas as feedstock in methanol thiolation reaction was examined with K2O/WO3/γ-Al2O3 catalysts and the effect of impurities on H2S conversion and product distribution was evaluated in this paper. The results compared with the case using pure H2S as feedstock. Three samples of catalysts were synthesized by incipient wetness impregnation. The catalysts are characterized by Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, X-Ray powder Diffraction, and NH3- Temperature programmed desorption methods. Catalytic tests were performed in a fixed-bed flow reactor for an acid gas with 12.2% mol. H2S. Dimethyl sulphide (DMS) and methanethiol are produced through a methanol thiolation reaction and hydrogen is produced by a hydrocarbon reforming reaction. The catalyst with the lowest acidity showed the best results. H2S in acid gas converted about 78.6%. The yields were reported about 74.8% and 3.8% for DMS and methanethiol respectively. The amount of hydrogen increased by more than 200% in the reactor outlet.