Patent ID: 7824638

Claim:
A process for the catalytic reduction of tail gas feed streams from sulfur recovery units in a catalytic tail gas incineration unit, the process comprising: pre-heating a tail gas feed stream from a sulfur recovery unit containing sulfur compounds for a period of time sufficient to generate a heated feed stream; passing the heated feed stream through a first reactor comprising a low temperature hydrogenation catalyst; contacting the tail gas feed stream with the low temperature hydrogenation catalyst for a period of time sufficient to generate a hydrogenated tail gas feed stream containing hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S); and passing the hydrogenated tail gas feed stream through a second reactor comprising a direct oxidation catalyst, wherein the feed stream passing through the second reactor contacts the direct oxidation catalyst, such that the hydrogenated tail gas feed stream is selectively oxidized such that substantially all of the H 2 S in the feed stream is converted to sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ).