Selective catalytic oxidation of H2S over V2O5-supported Fe-pillared montmorillonite clay

The selective catalytic oxidation of hydrogen sulfide to elemental sulfur in a continuous-flow fixed-bed reactor was studied over V2O5-supported Fe-pillared clay (V/Fe-PILC) catalysts. The synthesized catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), surface area–pore volume measurements, chemical analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), temperature-programmed desorption of ammonia (NH3-TPD), and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis. The reaction tests were conducted at temperatures ranging from 220 to 300 °C. The V/Fe-PILC catalysts exhibited very good catalytic performance toward H2S oxidation at 220–300 °C without much SO2 emission. The H2S conversion over V/Fe-PILC increased with increasing vanadia content up to 7 wt.%. This superior catalytic performance might be related to the uniform dispersion of vanadia species on the Fe-PILC support.