The present invention relates to a process for obtaining and refining elemental iodine contained in an iodide solution, which specifically comprises the steps of iodide cutting, and iodine melting, which take place simultaneously by reacting the preheated iodide solution with an oxidizing agent for directly producing elemental molten iodine, without passing iodine through a crystalline state; and the step of separating elemental molten iodine from spent melt water by liquid-liquid separation; carrying out all these steps in a single system operated in continuous regime.

The present invention relates to a process for obtaining and refining elemental iodine contained in an iodide solution, which specifically comprises the steps of iodide cutting, and iodine melting, which take place simultaneously by reacting the preheated iodide solution with an oxidizing agent for directly producing elemental molten iodine, without passing iodine through a crystalline state; and the step of separating elemental molten iodine from spent melt water by liquid-liquid separation; carrying out all these steps in a single system operated in continuous regime.

A method is provided for removing hydrogen sulfide from a gas or liquid stream containing hydrogen sulfide, the method comprises reacting the hydrogen sulfide in the gas or liquid stream in a reactor containing a mixture of iodine, water and hydriodic acid, under low temperature conditions, to thereby remove the hydrogen sulfide; and then regenerating the iodine in the liquid phase under conditions below the boiling point or vaporization of the mixture.

Methods of recovering iodine (I.sub.2) from a stream including iodine (I.sub.2) vapor and at least one of: an inert gas and water vapor can include contacting the stream with an alkaline solution to form an iodide salt, contacting the stream with an adsorbent to selectively adsorb water from the stream, contacting the stream with a concentrated acid to absorb the water vapor from the stream, desublimating or condensing the iodine (I.sub.2) vapor to form solid or liquid iodine (I.sub.2), or contacting the stream with a material to condense or de-sublimate the iodine (I.sub.2) vapor from the stream as the material at least one of: absorbs latent heat through a phase change of the material and absorbs sensible heat.

Methods of recovering iodine (I.sub.2) from a stream including iodine (I.sub.2) vapor and at least one of: an inert gas and water vapor can include contacting the stream with an alkaline solution to form an iodide salt, contacting the stream with an adsorbent to selectively adsorb water from the stream, contacting the stream with a concentrated acid to absorb the water vapor from the stream, desublimating or condensing the iodine (I.sub.2) vapor to form solid or liquid iodine (I.sub.2), or contacting the stream with a material to condense or de-sublimate the iodine (I.sub.2) vapor from the stream as the material at least one of: absorbs latent heat through a phase change of the material and absorbs sensible heat.

Methods of recovering iodine (I.sub.2) from a stream including iodine (I.sub.2) vapor and at least one of: an inert gas and water vapor can include contacting the stream with an alkaline solution to form an iodide salt, contacting the stream with an adsorbent to selectively adsorb water from the stream, contacting the stream with a concentrated acid to absorb the water vapor from the stream, desublimating or condensing the iodine (I.sub.2) vapor to form solid or liquid iodine (I.sub.2), or contacting the stream with a material to condense or de-sublimate the iodine (I.sub.2) vapor from the stream as the material at least one of: absorbs latent heat through a phase change of the material and absorbs sensible heat.

Methods of recovering iodine (I.sub.2) from a stream including iodine (I.sub.2) vapor and at least one of: an inert gas and water vapor can include contacting the stream with an alkaline solution to form an iodide salt, contacting the stream with an adsorbent to selectively adsorb water from the stream, contacting the stream with a concentrated acid to absorb the water vapor from the stream, desublimating or condensing the iodine (I.sub.2) vapor to form solid or liquid iodine (I.sub.2), or contacting the stream with a material to condense or de-sublimate the iodine (I.sub.2) vapor from the stream as the material at least one of: absorbs latent heat through a phase change of the material and absorbs sensible heat.

A method of removing water from a mixture of iodine (I.sub.2) and water includes providing a mixture comprising iodine and water and: contacting the mixture with an adsorbent to selectively adsorb water from the mixture, contacting the mixture with a concentrated acid to absorb water from the mixture, separating the water from mixture by distillation, contacting the mixture with a gas that is inert to iodine (I.sub.2), contacting the mixture with hydrogen iodide (HI), or combinations thereof.

A method of removing water from a mixture of iodine (I.sub.2) and water includes providing a mixture comprising iodine and water and: contacting the mixture with an adsorbent to selectively adsorb water from the mixture, contacting the mixture with a concentrated acid to absorb water from the mixture, separating the water from mixture by distillation, contacting the mixture with a gas that is inert to iodine (I.sub.2), contacting the mixture with hydrogen iodide (HI), or combinations thereof.

A method of removing water from a mixture of iodine (I.sub.2) and water includes providing a mixture comprising iodine and water and: contacting the mixture with an adsorbent to selectively adsorb water from the mixture, contacting the mixture with a concentrated acid to absorb water from the mixture, separating the water from mixture by distillation, contacting the mixture with a gas that is inert to iodine (I.sub.2), contacting the mixture with hydrogen iodide (HI), or combinations thereof.