Desulfurization or desulphurisation is a chemical process for the removal of
sulfur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formul ...
from a material. This involves either the removal of sulfur from a molecule (''e.g.'' A=S → A:) or the removal of sulfur compounds from a mixture such as oil refinery streams.
These processes are of great industrial and environmental importance as they provide the bulk of sulfur used in industry (
Claus process and
Contact process), sulfur-free compounds that could otherwise not be used in a great number of catalytic processes, and also reduce the release of harmful sulfur compounds into the environment, particularly
sulfur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a toxic gas responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is released naturally by volcanic a ...
(SO
2) which leads to
acid rain.
Processes used for desulfurization include
hydrodesulfurization
Hydrodesulfurization (HDS) is a catalytic chemical process widely used to remove sulfur (S) from natural gas and from refined petroleum products, such as gasoline or petrol, jet fuel, kerosene, diesel fuel, and fuel oils. The purpose of rem ...
,
SNOX process and the
wet sulfuric acid process (WSA process).
See also
*
Shell–Paques process
*
Flue-gas desulfurization
*
Biodesulfurization
References
Chemical processes
Sulfur
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