Patent ID: 7357908

Claim:
A process for recovering sulfur from a H 2 S-containing gas stream comprising: directing a reactant gas stream comprising a mixture of H 2 S and O 2 into a catalytic partial oxidation reaction zone with a partial oxidation catalyst under catalytic partial oxidation conditions and catalyzing the reactant gas stream to produce a first stage product gas stream; maintaining the temperature of said catalytic partial oxidation reaction zone above 500° C.; condensing gaseous elemental sulfur from said first stage product gas stream to provide liquid sulfur and a partially desulfurized first stage product gas stream comprising H 2 S and SO 2 ; separating at least a portion of the liquid sulfur from the first stage product gas stream; directing the first stage product gas stream into a Claus reaction unit with Claus catalyst under Claus catalytic conditions and converting H 2 S and SO 2 to elemental sulfur and water to yield a second stage product gas stream comprising elemental sulfur and water; and condensing elemental sulfur from said second stage product gas stream to provide a tail gas stream.