DEVELOPMENT OF ZINC OXIDE-BASED ADSORBENT FOR ADSORPTIVE DESULFURIZATION PROCESS

• Main Author: Muntaqin, Althafa
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Teknik kimia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/79568
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

In industries heavily reliant on natural gas, the pervasive challenge of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) contamination necessitates effective mitigation strategies to ensure operational efficiency and environmental sustainability. The presence of H2S in natural gas must be eliminated due to its catalyst toxicity, corrosiveness, and environmental harm. While zinc oxide (ZnO) has shown promise as an absorbent for H2S, further enhancements are needed to optimize its performance and contribute to more robust and efficient gas purification systems. The study of ZnO synthesis, particularly the choice of precipitating agents, revealed structural discrepancies that can impact its efficacy as an absorbent. Na2CO3 emerged as a favorable precipitating agent compared to NH4OH, demonstrating superior surface area, high pore volume, and crushing strength, thereby enhancing H2S removal performance. Evaluating the ZnO adsorbent's performance involved breakthrough capacity analyses, with variations in operating conditions such as bed length to optimize results. ZnO precipitated by Na2CO3 (ZnO-SC) exhibited the highest breakthrough capacity at a space velocity of 25,000 h?¹, reaching 32.1 mg S/g adsorbent, while ZnO precipitated by NH4OH (ZnO-AH) and the commercial adsorbent (ZnO-Com) achieved 2.4 mg S/g adsorbent and 7.1 mg S/g adsorbent, respectively. Moreover, the kinetic studies on the adsorbent deactivation have been conducted to obtain insights into the adsorbent behaviour and provide fundamental basis for further improvement.