April 22, 2008

Art Montemayor
Rev: 0
Desulfurization by Hot Zinc Oxide
In order to protect downstream catalyst reactor beds from poisoning, it is imperative to remove all sulfur
contamination in the process gas stream down to a level of less than 0.5 ppm(V) (measured in the dry gas).
In order to ensure that this ultra-low level of sulfur is maintained, a desulfurization method is employed.
This method is applicable when the process gas has to contain 10 grains/100 Scf of sulfur or less. It is
important to note that the desulfurizers, which are packed with zinc oxide, can only effect the removal of sulfur
as hydrogen sulfide. Therefore, it is a process prerequisite that all sulfur in the process gas should exist at this
point as 100% hydrogen sulfide.

Two pressure vessels packed with zinc oxide are connected in series and valved so that one bed is normally
operating in series with the other during normal operation. Below is a schematic of the arrangement:.

Raw Gas

A B

Product Gas

Each zinc oxide bed is in a separate vessel and normal flow is in series through the beds. This series
arrangement reduces the total zinc oxide requirement, since the front bed can be run to a higher sulfur retention.
The front bed becomes loaded before sulfur break-through occurs in the trail bed. The piping and valving is
arranged so that the front bed, when exhausted, can be replaced while the trail bed remains onstream. The trail
bed then becomes the front bed and the fresh bed is switched to become the trail bed. For ease of operation,
the system is designed large enough that at least 3 months will expire between replacements of the front bed.

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 April 22, 2008
Art Montemayor
Rev: 0
Typically, the size of the zinc oxide beds is calculated by applying a 15% (by weight) capacity for sulfur
in the bed charge. A Space Velocity of 200 can be used for each bed.

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