ARTICLE IN PRESS

Biomass and Bioenergy 29 (2005) 142151

www.elsevier.com/locate/biombioe

A H2S reactive adsorption process for the purication of

biogas prior to its use as a bioenergy vector
L.V.-A. Truong, N. Abatzoglou
Faculty of Engineering, Chemical Engineering Department, Universite de Sherbrooke, 2500 boul. Universite,
Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1 K 2R1
Received 15 December 2003; accepted 3 March 2005
Available online 24 May 2005

Abstract

This work studies, at lab scale, a reactive adsorption technology for the removal of the H2S from biogas produced in landlls
or anaerobic digesters. The main phenomenon is an irreversible chemical reaction between the solid and gas phase. The study
produces data on the efciency of the process as function of a number of variables including: the nature and properties of the
adsorbent; the biogas ow rate and the contact time of the gas with the adsorbent; the geometry of the adsorption columns and
the linear velocity of the ow; the concentration of the contaminant (H2S) and humidity in the biogas.
The work reported in this paper focuses on a promising adsorbent available commercially and includes the
breakthrough curves and the compilation of a phenomenological model for the process. These rst results show that
the rates of the external diffusion, internal diffusion and surface reaction steps are relatively close and that the limiting
step of the process changes with experimental conditions. Globally, the phenomenological model predicts that the rate
of the process is near rst order with respect to the H2S concentration and zero order with respect to the solid reactant
(adsorbent). The reported data constitute the basis for the scale-up of the unit at a commercial level.
r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Biogas; Bioenergy; Adsorption; Hydrogen sulphide; Iron oxide

1. Introduction 01.0vol%H2S, 00.05vol% NH3 and it is satu-

Anaerobic fermentation (AF) of organic waste
produces a biogas with high concentration of
methane (CH4). The biogas formed in AF plants
consists of 5580vol% CH4, 2045vol%CO2,
Corresponding author. Tel.: 819 821 7904; fax: 819 821 7955.
E-mail address: Nicolas.Abatzoglou@USherbrooke.ca
(N. Abatzoglou).
rated with water [1]. Sulphate reducing bacteria
grow in the digester and use acetic or propionic
acid to produce H2S. This step occurs simulta-
neously with the methane production [2]. The
generation of H2S poses serious problems of
odour, toxicity for human and animal health,
and corrosion. Additionally, hydrogen sulphide is
known to be active in the presence of ferrous alloys
and is a hydrogen embrittlement source (i.e. steel).

0961-9534/$ - see front matter r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2005.03.001
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
L.V.-A. Truong, N. Abatzoglou / Biomass and Bioenergy 29 (2005) 142151
Moreover, whenever used for the production of
energy, the biogas has to be conditioned because
the combustion of hydrogen sulphide produces
SOx, known for their detrimental role in the
atmosphere and human health. Biogas contami-
nated with hydrogen sulphide can be puried by
various methods [1,3]. Many small-scale AF plants
have tried to use biogas as a bioenergy vector but
the majority of these projects ended because of the
corrosion and the high maintenance cost of the
process [4]. The choice of the H2S removal process
is, thus, site specic. In the case of this study, the
process is designed for a farm-scale unit. As the
process has to be simple and the product must be
easy to handle and environmentally safe, the
adsorption using a H2S scavenger was chosen.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
A commercially available adsorbent was chosen
for this study. The adsorbent is the Sulfatreat 410-
HPs (www.sulfatreat.com) .The active ingredients
of the adsorbent is a combination of iron oxides
(Fe2O3, Fe3O4) and an activator oxide attached
to a calcined montmorillonite carrier matrix; the
latter is thought to be enhancing catalytically the
reactive adsorption phenomenon. Based on data
available from the manufacturer, it is known that
the amount of activator is 0.1255%w/w of the
adsorbent. The activator is constituted on one or
more oxides of a group of metals consisting of
platinum, gold, silver, copper, cadmium, nickel,
palladium, lead, mercury, tin and cobalt [5]. The
active ingredients are supported on a non-porous
silica (SiO2) matrix containing small amounts of
alumina (Al2O3); an aluminosilicate coming from
montmorillonite. Thus, it can be said that the
adsorbent is a two-dimension (2D) formulation in
which the active ingredients are at the surface of a
coarse size support matrix; the silica particles
diameter varies between 4.06.5 mm. These data
are corroborated by SEM analyses which are
provided within the Figs. 1, 2(a), 2(b) and 3. Fig. 4
depicts the sulphur distribution at the surface of
the adsorbent after use. The morphology and
143
particle size of the active components are shown in
the SEM picture of Fig. 5.
Apart from its specications, the manufacturer
sells the product with: (a) a MSDS; (b) copies of
ofcial documents proving its classication by EPA
(USA) and the Alberta Environmental Protection
Authority (Canada) as a non-hazardous material, in
both its unreacted and dry, ready for disposal form;
(c) a list of disposal options; (d) environmental data
summary including the disposal approvals in
various states in USA, Canada and Offshore. These
documents are available upon request; a short
summary of the main points follows:

The material is non-toxic and non-hazardous.
Both its unreacted and spent forms can be
disposed of safely by landlling or even offshore
spilling, if the gas treated does not contain
dangerous contaminants other than sulphurous
compounds.

Disposal options, other than landll, include:
recycle into sludge treatment and disposal
processes; use as a road material; in agricultural
fertilizers for product enhancement; in ceramic
bricks manufacturing.

Although there are no analytical data on the
lifecycle of this material, the information avail-
able by the manufacturer indicates that even the
use of the spent material is safe.
Fig. 1. Elements mapping by SEM on adsorbent (active+
support) particles; silicium (Si) in spots.
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
144 L.V.-A. Truong, N. Abatzoglou / Biomass and Bioenergy 29 (2005) 142151
Fig. 2. (a, b) Elements mapping by SEM on adsorbent
(active+support) particles; iron (Fe) in spots.
The manufacturer also provided the informa-
tion that the active material has a relatively high
internal porosity (
0:75). This lm of active
material seems to be physically attached to the
inert matrix because it produces dust easily upon
handling. The powder has been also analyzed by
SEM; it is found that (a) the size of the powder
particles varies between 1 and 10 mm and (b) that
the powder is mainly composed of iron oxides with
small quantities of Cu and Mn. Qualitative
evidence for the presence of these elements has
been obtained through SEM mapping.
Fig. 3. Elements mapping by SEM on adsorbent (active+
support) particles; aluminium (Al) in spots.
Fig. 4. Elements mapping by SEM on adsorbent (active+
support) particles; adsorbed sulphur in spots.
The apparent density of the dry adsorbent is
1000 kg/m3. The experimental data have proven
that 1 g of adsorbent can adsorb up to 0.11 g of
H2S. The saturation was dened experimentally as
the point at which the concentrations of the inlet
and outlet gas in H2S were identical C OUT H2 S
C IN H2 S . The obtained breakthrough curve was
integrated to nd the mass of H2S adsorbed by the
media. The specic surface is 5.4 m2/g. The
adsorbent is environmentally safe in both non-
reacted and H2S saturated forms and no odour
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L.V.-A. Truong, N. Abatzoglou / Biomass and Bioenergy 29 (2005) 142151 145

Table 1
List of experiments

H2S conc. (ppmv) Contact Column Water

time (s) diameter saturation
(cm)

10 000 30 6.35 Y
10 000 30 3.81 Y
10 000 30 6.35 N
10 000 30 3.81 N
10 000 60 6.35 Y
10 000 60 3.81 Y
10 000 60 6.35 Y
3000 30 6.35 Y
3000 30 3.81 Y
3000 60 6.35 Y
3000 60 3.81 Y
Fig. 5. Particle size of active component.
3000 30 3.81 N

emanating from it has been observed before or
after its use.
The hydrogen sulphide (H2S) adsorption from a
simulated biogas (H2S: 3000 ppmv or 10 000 ppmv,
CO2: 29% and CH4: balance) has been studied
under dynamic conditions as function of contact
time, column geometry, linear velocity, initial H2S
concentration and water content in gas. Two
columns of 3.81 and 6.35 cm diameter, respec-
tively, have been used at constant gas ow rate of
20 L gas/h, operating at atmospheric pressure and
ambient temperature. The contact time between
the gas and media has been dened by varying the
height of the adsorbent bed. Two contact times
were tested (30 and 60 s) and reported in this
paper. Two different H2S content gas mixtures,
both dry and water saturated have been tested.
The saturation, wherever required, was reached by
bubbling the initial dry gas through a H2S
saturated aqueous solution. The solubility of H2S
in water at 20 1C is 3.98 g/L of water. The
saturation is conrmed by analyzing the inlet
and outlet concentrations of the H2S stream. The
rst target of the experimentation was to trace the
breakthrough curves and to determine the limiting
step of the phenomenon (diffusion or reactive
adsorption at the surface of the adsorbent). A list
of the experiments is presented in Table 1.
The experimental protocol is the following: a
chosen gas ow rate of 20 L/h is fed through the
xed bed of the adsorbent media. The composition
of the inlet gas (H2S and water content) is also set
(3000 and 10 000 ppmv). The linear velocity of the
gas ow is dened by keeping the same ow rate
and changing the diameter of the column: 0.18 cm/s
for the 6.35 cm diameter column and 0.49 cm/s for
the 3.81 cm diameter column. Finally, the water
content depends on whether bubbling through
the H2S saturated aqueous solution is used. The
H2S concentration at the inlet and outlet of the
xed bed column is measured using precision
detector tubes (colorimetric method) from
Matheson-Kitagawa. This colorimetric method
was chosen because there are no possible inter-
ferences in this system of simulated biogas. The
sampling and analysis were carried out at regular
time intervals. The spent gas was purged to the
atmosphere after removal of the residual H2S by
means of a NaOH solution bubbler. The spent
media were disposed of after use by the Uni-
versitys hazardous waste management service.
Fig. 6 presents a simplied schematic of the
experimental set-up.
2.2. Adsorption
This process is an irreversible reactive adsorp-
tion through a xed bed. Since no data on
isotherm, equilibrium or chemical composition
were given, theoretical calculations were used to
predict the controlling step of the global phenom-
enon. Then, an experimental study was performed
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146 L.V.-A. Truong, N. Abatzoglou / Biomass and Bioenergy 29 (2005) 142151

Apparatus and procedure

3-WAY VALVE FLOWMETER

FOR SAMPLING

FIXED BED
ADSORPTION COLUMN SATURATED
SOLUTION H2S GAS CYLINDER
(CH4,CO2,H2S)

3-WAY VALVE
FOR SAMPLING

TO PURGE

NaOH SOLUTION

Fig. 6. Simplied schematic of the experimental set-up.

to validate or invalidate the predictions. Since the Table 2

adsorption is irreversible, the three principal steps Results of kD and yD
are: the external diffusion, the internal diffusion Linear velocity External mass Time for external
and the adsorption on the active site. of gas (cm=s transfer (diffusion) mass transfer
coefcient (cm=s (diffusion) (s)
2.3. External diffusion calculations u6.35 cm: 0.18 kD 0:98 yD 0:114
u3.81 cm: 0.49 kD 1:25 yD 0:089
The mass transfer coefcient for the external
diffusion is calculated from the following equa-
tion:
porosity of the product. The exchange surface of a
Sh  DH2 S_gas
kD , (1) particle of the adsorbent was calculated using next
dP equation and the result is aP 9 cm1 ; where
where the Sherwood number is
pd 2
6

Sh 2:0 1:8 Re 1=2
Sc 1=3
. (2) aP 1 P 3 . (3)
6 pd P
dP
The Reynolds number was calculated using the
linear velocity of gas and the average diameter of The value kD represents the speed of diffusion and
the media particles. Diffusivity and viscosity are yD is the time required to perform this diffusion.
calculated at P 1 atm and T 293 K for gas 1
mixtures using the equations proposed in [6]. The y . (4)
k D ap
kD, Sh, Re and Sc were calculated using these
parameters DH2 S-gas 0:1413l cm2 =s, the diffusiv- A comparison between the linear velocity u
ity of H2S in the uid, mgas 1:267  104 g=cm s, and the constant kD shows that in both cases,
the viscosity of the gas, rgas 0:001 g=cm3 , the presented in Table 2, the speed of the external
density of the uid, d P 0:5 cm, the average mass transfer (kD) is between 2.5 and 5.5 times the
diameter of media particle,
P 0:75, the internal velocity of the gas front through the column
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
L.V.-A. Truong, N. Abatzoglou / Biomass and Bioenergy 29 (2005) 142151
(u 0:1820:49 cm=s). This leads to the assump-
tion that the external diffusion step is faster than
the rate of the gas crossing the column; thus,
theoretically, the external diffusion might not be
the controlling step.
2.4. Internal diffusion
The internal diffusion is the transfer of the
adsorbate, the H2S, inside the adsorbent particle.
Otherwise, it is the migration of the H2S molecule
from the external surface of the adsorbent into the
internal pores of the active ingredients [7]. To
calculate the effective diffusivity, it is assumed that
the mean free path of the gas molecules is smaller
than the diameter of the pores (d) of the adsorbent
so molecular gas diffusion will occur.
RT
l p 2 , (5)
2pd N A P
where l is the mean free path, T the temperature, P
the pressure, d the molecular diameter of H2S, NA
the Avogadro number, R the gas constant and p
the known constant equal to 3.14159.
Using a molecular diameter of 10 A, tempera-
ture of 293 K and pressure of 1 atm, it is calculated
that l 9 nm. This assumption is valid for d values
typically at least 5 times higher than the mean free
path (l), that is 50 nm. If this is the case, the
diffusivity D is equal to the molar diffusivity
DH2 S_gas 1:413  105 m2 =s. Otherwise the diffu-
sivity is rather of the Knudsen type. Since there is
no clear evidence from the SEM pictures (no
visible pores at the 0.5 mm level in Figs. 11 and 12)
the effective diffusivity is calculated by the
following equation:

P sD
De , (6)
tP
where
p is the porosity of the particle and tp is the
tortuosity of the media. s is the constriction factor.
Table 3
Value of the modied Thiele modulus when s 1
CH2 S (ppmv) De (m2/s) Cs (mol H2S/m3)
10 000 2.65  106 0.415
3000 2.65  106 0.124
147
De is equal to 2.649  106 m2/s, when s 1 and
De 1:325  106 m2 =s, when s 0:5. To deter-
mine whether the reaction is controlled by this
diffusion step or the chemical reaction the
modulus of Thiele is used. In this case, where the
rs value is not known, the modied Thiele modulus
will be considered
rL2
j0s Zs j2s . (7)
De C s
The values of r have been calculated by using the
average rates measured experimentally.
Since these values are lower than 1 and the
j0s j2s o1, the reaction must be mainly con-
trolled by the chemical kinetics. But if the
constriction factor is lower than 1 (i.e. s 0:5),
the values are changing just as shown in Tables 3
and 4.
Since j0s j2s 1 the chemical kinetics and the
internal diffusion rates are of the same order and
they may both have an impact on the global
reaction.
2.5. Kinetic study and modelling
Fixed bed column reactors are most frequently
modelled as plug ow reactors. However, we were
unable to sample the reactor along its length,
and used the semi-batch stirred reactor as the
phenomenological model with the formulation
that the reaction of H2S at concentration CA with
the active sites at concentration CB is irreversible
leading to A+B-C. In the classic stirred reactor
kinetic formulation the correct concentration to be
used in the equation is the exit concentration (as
the system is well mixed); we have replaced this
assumption with the mean concentration
CA CA,INCA,OUT. The mass balance is
F A;IN F A consumption of A in reactor;
L (m) r mol H2 S=m3 s j0s
8.33  103 8.15  103 0.515
8.33  103 3.26  103 0.688
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148 L.V.-A. Truong, N. Abatzoglou / Biomass and Bioenergy 29 (2005) 142151
Table 4
Values of modied Thiele modulus when s 0:5
CH2 S (ppmv) De (m2/s) Cs(mol H2S /m3)
10 000 1.33  106 0.415
3000 1.33  106 0.124
F A;IN  F A consumption of A in reactor;
FA;IN  F A rA V kC aA C bB V .
rA is the reaction rate (mg H2S reacted/cm3
adsorbent*h); k the reaction constant; CB the
number of reactive sites consumed by the H2S
(sites per cm3 adsorbent); a the order of reaction of
CA, b the order of reaction of CB; V the volume of
adsorbent (cm3 of adsorbent).
According to this model, B is placed inside the
semi-batch reactor and it is consumed with time
while A, the H2S content in the gas, is fed into the
reactor continuously. FA,IN is a constant for each
experiment but FA changes with time. In this work,
it was considered that the semi-batch reactor
behaves as a stirred reactor (STR) while in reality
the column behaves as a semi-batch Packed Bed
Reactor (PBR). Thus, it is expected that the
predicted efciencies will be lower than in real
adsorption experiments because of the back-
mixing assumption. To respect the stirred reactor
hypothesis, CA ought to be equal to the CA at the
exit of the reactor. Since this is not sufciently
close to the reality of the experimental runs and as
there are no data so far to analyse the system as a
PBR it was decided to use CA (CA inCA out)
instead of CA CA out, which is a more realistic
approach.
2.6. Estimation of the kinetic parameters
The basic assumption is that the reaction rate is
a function of the H2S concentration and of the
sites available for the adsorption.
Based on the available media saturation data
provided by the experimental results, it has been
calculated that 1 g of media contains 1,984  1021
available adsorption sites. The basic assumption in
L (m) r mol H2 S=m3 s j0s
8.33  103 8.15  103 1.028
8.33  103 3.26  103 1.380
these calculations is that each reacted molecule of
H2S consumed one adsorption site.
The reaction rate is given by the following
equation: rA kC aA C bB . A non-linear regression
algorithm was used to evaluate the best-t kinetic
parameters of this equation.
The regression gave the following results:
rA 0:0243 C 0:935
A C 0:03
B . (10)
The model proposed suggests that the reaction is
close to rst order with respect to the H2S
concentration and zero order with respect to the
media. A comparison of the model prediction
efciency is depicted in Fig. 7. A near zero order
with respect to the adsorbent can be explained by
the fact that these experiments are performed at
conditions away from saturation. During the
experiments, the adsorbent used was never satu-
rated. The most advanced adsorption was stopped
at 0.11 gH2S/gSulfatreat while saturation experi-
ments have proven that the manufacturers claim
for 0.2 gH2S/gSulfatreat is close to the reality.
3. Results and discussion
In this study the parameters tested were, contact
time, geometry of the column and linear velocity
of the ow, initial concentration of hydrogen
sulphide and the water content in the stream. The
experimental runs performed led to the following
results.
3.1. Contact time
Contact time proved to be an important
parameter. Even with a contact time of 60 s, the
breakthrough curve resembles the ones character-
izing the mass transfer controlled adsorption
processes (no-pulse like adsorption front) and a
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L.V.-A. Truong, N. Abatzoglou / Biomass and Bioenergy 29 (2005) 142151 149

Experimental versus Model Breakthrough curves

1.8 0.40
30s
1.6 0.35
60s
1.4 0.30
-rA (mg H2S/cm3.h)

0.25

Cout/Cin
1.2
0.20
1.0 Experimental
0.15
0.8 Model
0.10
0.6
0.05
0.4
0.00
0.2 0:00 12:00 24:00 36:00 48:00 60:00 72:00 84:00 96:00
0.0 Time (h)
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time (h) Fig. 8. Breakthrough curves for two contact times tested.

Fig. 7. Experimental data versus model predictions.

500
450
Exp#5 Exp#8 Exp#18
400
part of the H2S is not retained by the bed and exits
350
the column from the very rst hours of the process.
H2S (ppmv)

The data reported in Fig. 8 were obtained by
varying the height of the bed. It can be observed
that the exit concentration is two times lower when
the contact time is higher.
Fig. 9 helps to examine the reproducibility of the
tests. The differences observed are quite signi-
cant. It is believed that the main source of
discrepancy is the adsorbent itself. The SEM
analyses on the adsorbent prove that the adsorbent
is composed of a non-porous SiO2 matrix at the
surface of which the active promoted iron oxides
are physically retained. This means that the
adsorbent is spatially rather non-homogeneous
and it is composed of an iron-rich ne powder, in
the range of 1020 mm, and iron-poor granules at
the millimetre order of magnitude size. Given the
heterogeneous nature of the bed material and its
frangible character, we were unable to guarantee
that each lling of the bed was with an identical
composition of bed material especially in the ratio
of reactive nes to larger and more inert matrix
material.
3.2. Column geometry and linear velocity of the gas
Fig. 10 presents the results obtained by main-
taining the same ow rate (20L/h), contact time
(30 s) and initial concentration (10 000 ppmv) and
varying the bed diameter. Thus, for the same
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
0:00 12:00 24:00 36:00 48:00 60:00 72:00
Time (h)
Fig. 9. Reproducibility of the results.
contact time the gas stream has a lower linear
velocity.
From the data obtained during the 48 h test, it is
shown that, with all other parameters kept
constant, the column geometry and the linear
velocity of the gas have a signicant impact on the
efciency of the reactive adsorption. However,
these data on the effect of linear velocity of the gas
are equivocal. According to well-established theo-
ry, the linear velocity of the reacting gas neither
affects the rate of the chemical reaction nor the
internal diffusion. The only step, which can be
affected positively by the increase of the velocity, is
the external diffusion. Fig. 10 suggests that an
increase in velocity decreases the efciency of the
process, which is rather inexplicable. Since we did
not do replicate experiments for these phenomena,
we can only assume that the effects are within the
noise shown in Fig. 9, which shows a very large
variability between experiments. Our measurement
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150 L.V.-A. Truong, N. Abatzoglou / Biomass and Bioenergy 29 (2005) 142151

Breakthrough curves Breakthrough curves

0.80 1.00
0.70 0.18 cm/s 0.90 10000ppmv
0.49 cm/s 0.80
0.60 3000 ppmv
0.70
0.50
Cout/Cin

Cout/Cin
0.60
0.40 0.50
0.30 0.40
0.20 0.30
0.20
0.10
0.10
0.00
0:00 6:00 12:00 18:00 24:00 30:00 36:00 42:00 48:00 0.00
0:00 24:00 48:00 72:00 96:00 120:00
Time (h)
Time (h)
Fig. 10. Breakthrough curves for the two linear velocities at
Fig. 11. Breakthrough curves for the two concentrations
10 000 ppmv H2S (Contact time of 30 s).
(Contact time of 30 s).

of breakthrough curves as a function of inlet

concentration of H2S are more or less in line with 0.80
Breakthrough curves

the expectation that sites become saturated with 0.70 100% Saturation
increasing quantities of H2S and more rapidly at 0.60 0% Saturation
higher concentrations. The effect of water vapour
Cout/Cin

0.50
is remarkable in enhancing the adsorption over the 0.40
dry gas case. This deserves further study, as most 0.30
of the anaerobic digestion processes have high 0.20
humidity product gas streams. 0.10
0.00
0:00 12:00 24:00 36:00 48:00 60:00 72:00
Time (h)
3.3. Initial concentration of H2S
Fig. 12. Breakthrough curves for the two levels of water
The comparison can be based on the concentra- presence.
tion at the exit of the column after a period of time
or the ratio COUT/CIN for the same period of time. saturation is faster if the initial concentration of
When the contact time is 30 s and the linear velocity H2S at the entrance is higher.
is maintained at 0.18 cm/s, for the rst hours of
operation, the ratio COUT/CIN was similar for both 3.4. Water content in the stream
concentrations. But upon time passing, the slope is
more abrupt at high concentration of H2S. The The presence of water enhances the reaction
speed of saturation increases more rapidly at between H2S and the media. Data from the
10 000 ppmv than at 3000 ppmv where the speed experiments prove that under the same conditions
seems more constant. The adsorption rate at low (3000 ppmv, 60 s and 0.49 cm/s) the exit concen-
concentration is decreasing more gradually. tration of the treated gas was 10 times higher when
As seen in Fig. 11, the ratio COUT/CIN for the gas entered dry versus when it was saturated
10 000 ppmv H2S is twice as high as that for with water (see Fig. 12). This proves that the water
3000 ppmv H2S. At 125 h of operation, the participates in the chemical reaction with the
media that treated the C IN 10 000 ppmv media. The same prole was observed under other
reached operational saturation and the media conditions (10 000 ppmv, 30 s and 0.18 cm/s). In
with C IN 3000 ppmv was only half consumed. the next steps of our work it will be examined
Since the adsorbent has a xed number of whether the water acts as catalyst or as reactant; in
available active sites, it is normal that the the latter case kinetics must take into account the
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
L.V.-A. Truong, N. Abatzoglou / Biomass and Bioenergy 29 (2005) 142151
presence of the water which is now hidden in the
reaction constant (k).
4. Conclusion
An adsorption process for the removal of H2S
from biogas has been tested at lab scale. The forms
of the breakthrough curves obtained show that the
rate of the process is not instantaneous. Both
calculations and results suggest that the diffusion
and the surface reaction rates are of the same order
of magnitude and that the gas must be saturated in
water to give optimum results. A preliminary
kinetic model has been developed predicting that
the rate of the process is rst order with respect to
the H2S concentration and zero order with respect
to the adsorption active sites. The latter is rather
due to the fact that all our experiments were
conducted far from the adsorbent saturation
status. The process proved promising and a
scaled-up unit has been built and it is actually
tested at a swine farm in Quebec, Canada.
Additional experimental work is underway to
rene the model by measuring concentration
151
proles along the reaction column and include
non-ideal packing considerations instead of the
ideal PBR system considered.
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