H2S Removal Using ZnO/SBA-3: New Synthesis Route and Optimization of Process Parameters

Abstract

Abstract. H 2 S is a major toxic compound that could be found in air, water, and fossil fuels and causes some bad e ects such as acidic rain and corrosion. In the present work, SBA-3 (Santa Barbara University no. 3) with three di erent weight percentages of ZnO, namely, 5%, 10%, and 15%, was synthesized via an in situ approach. All synthesized samples were characterized using atomic absorption spectrometry, X-Ray Di raction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption, and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The obtained results from XRD and nitrogen adsorption con rmed that all the samples almost retained their ordered structure after incorporation of ZnO nanoparticles within the mesopores of SBA-3. TEM images showed that ZnO nanoparticles were arranged along the direction of mesopores of SBA-3. Then, adsorption of H2S from a model gas was investigated. A three-factor Box-Behnken design with ve center points and one response was performed for the evaluation of e ect of three process parameters, namely, ZnO wt%, space velocity, and temperature, on the adsorption of H 2 S and a quadratic model (r 2 : 0.9185) was developed to navigate the design space. Temperature had the largest and space velocity had the lowest e ect on the breakthrough of H 2 S. The optimum breakthrough time (t bp ) was 588 min.