Hydrogen Sulfide Removal from Copper Smelting Contaminated Acid Using Rotating Packed Bed

The removal of H ₂S from copper smelting contaminated acid using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as absorbent was investigated in a RPB reactor. The influences of operating parameters were assessed on the removal efficiency of H ₂S (E) and overall volumetric gas side mass transfer coefficient (K_Ga). The results illustrate that E and K_Ga increased with increase in high gravity factor, flow rate and concentration of sodium hydroxide while decreased with increase in mass concentration of H ₂S in feed gas. With increase in H ₂S gas flow rate, E was found to decrease while K_Ga was found to increase. The increase in the temperature of absorption did not show any significant effect on E and K_Ga. The K_Ga of the rotating packed bed reactor was about 30 times higher than the conventional packed bed at similar gas liquid throughputs. The superior performance of RBP certainly demands further investigation, process development, scale-up for economical commercial adoption.