A sulfur adsorbent comprising boric acid deposited on an activated carbon support, and a method of separating at least a portion of sulfur compounds from a sulfur-containing mixture with the sulfur adsorbent. Various combinations of embodiments of the sulfur adsorbent and the method are also provided.

Copper adsorbents which are resistant to the reduction by the components of the synthesis gas at normal operation conditions. The adsorbents are produced by admixing small amounts of an inorganic halide, such as NaCl, to the basic copper carbonate precursor followed by calcination at a temperature sufficient to decompose the carbonate. The introduction of the halide can be also achieved during the forming stage of adsorbent preparation. These reduction resistant copper oxides can be in the form of composites with alumina and are especially useful for purification of synthesis gas and the removal of mercury, arsine, phosphine, as well as hydrogen sulfide.

Acid gas compounds are removed from a process gas such as, for example, syngas or natural gas, by flowing a feed gas into a desulfurization unit to remove a substantial fraction of sulfur compounds from the feed gas and flowing the resulting desulfurized gas into a CO.sub.2 removal unit to remove a substantial fraction of CO.sub.2 from the desulfurized gas.

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for separation of sulfurous material(s) from a multi-component feed stream. The systems and methods can comprise contacting the multi-component feed stream with a solvent in a contacting column so that at least a portion of the sulfurous material(s) is transferred from the multi-component feed stream to the solvent. A stream of a substantially purified gas can thus be provided along with a liquid stream comprising at least a majority of the sulfurous material. In particular, the solvent can comprise liquid carbon dioxide, which can be particularly beneficial for removing sulfurous materials from multi-component feed streams.

A process for simultaneous removal of hydrogen sulfide (H.sub.2S ) and heavy metals from mixture includes charging a contaminated aqueous composition containing heavy metal ions to a reactor. The process also includes passing a H.sub.2S -containing gas composition via a plurality of gas spargers through the contaminated aqueous composition present in the reactor to form a H.sub.2S-containing contaminated aqueous composition and a purified gas composition. The process further includes reacting the H.sub.2S from the H.sub.2S -containing contaminated aqueous composition with the heavy metal ions in the H.sub.2S -containing contaminated aqueous composition to form a metal sulfide precipitate in a metal-sulfide-containing contaminated aqueous composition. In addition, the process includes at least partially introducing the metal-sulfide-containing contaminated aqueous composition to a solid-liquid separator and removing the metal sulfide precipitate from the metal-sulfide-containing contaminated aqueous composition to form a purified aqueous composition.

The present invention relates to a column (CO) for the exchange of material and, if appropriate, heat between a gas and a liquid. The exchange column (CO) comprises at least one collector tray and a system for distributing liquid arranged between two packing beds (7), and means for recirculating the liquid (8). The means for recirculating the liquid (8) connect a zone situated below the packing bed (7) to a zone situated above the distributor tray.

This present disclosure relates to processes for removing contaminants from hydrocarbon streams, e.g. removing chlorides, CO.sub.2, COS, H.sub.2S, AsH.sub.3, methanol, mercaptans and other S- or O-containing organic compounds from olefins, paraffins, aromatics, naphthenes and other hydrocarbon streams. The process involves contacting the stream with an adsorbent which comprises a zeolite, an alumina component and a metal component e.g. sodium, in an amount at least 30% of the zeolite's ion exchange capacity.

An apparatus and process for thermally de-manufacturing tires and other materials. The apparatus is a retort chamber with various zones in which tires are combusted to provide energy for the thermal depolymerization reaction, depolymerization takes place, and products leave the retort chamber. In one embodiment, the process reacts water with iron present in steel-belted tires to produce hydrogen, which helps to break sulfur-sulfur bonds in vulcanized materials. The water also helps control the temperature of the reaction, which allows for control over the types and relative amounts of the various depolymerization products.

A class of water lean, organic solvents that can bind with various acid gasses to form acid gas bound molecules having a high degree of intramolecular hydrogen bonding which enables their use as regenerable solvents for acid gas capture. Unlike the other devices described in the prior art, the present invention takes advantage of shortened distances between the portions of the molecule that form hydrogen bonds within the structures when loaded with an acid gas so as to create a molecule with a higher internal bonding affinity and a reduced proclivity for agglomeration with other molecules.

A process for altering the composition of a feed gas containing H.sub.2S equivalents is disclosed. The process comprises (a) contacting the feed gas with a solid adsorbent at a temperature of 250-500 C., to obtain a loaded adsorbent, (b) purging the loaded adsorbent with a purge gas comprising steam, thus producing a product stream which typically contains substantially equal levels of CO.sub.2 and H.sub.2S. The process further comprises a step (c) of regenerating the purged adsorbent by removal of water. The adsorbent comprises alumina and one or more alkali metals, such as potassium oxides, hydroxide or the like.