Patent ID: 6946111

Claim:
A process of removing H 2 S from an H 2 S-containing gas stream comprising: forming a reactant gas mixture comprising said H 2 S-containing gas and O 2 ; maintaining the temperature of said reactant gas mixture greater than the dew point of elemental sulfur, flowing a stream of said reactant gas mixture over a catalyst device in a reaction zone such that the contact time of each portion of reactant gas mixture that contacts said catalyst device is less than 200 milliseconds, whereby the reaction H 2 S+½O 2 →1/x S x +H 2 O(x=2, 6 or 8) occurs, forming a product stream comprising gaseous elemental sulfur and water; passing said product stream into a cooling zone and cooling said product stream to the dewpoint temperature of elemental sulfur, or lower, such that sulfur is condensed from said product stream; and recovering said condensed elemental sulfur from said cooling zone.