Manganese gluconate, A greener and more degradation resistant agent for H2S oxidation using liquid redox sulfur recovery process

Tirto Prakoso; Andreas Widodo; Antonius Indarto; Rina Mariyana; Aditya Farhan Arif; Tri Partono Adhi; Tatang Hernas Soerawidjaja

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e03358

Manganese gluconate, A greener and more degradation resistant agent for H₂S oxidation using liquid redox sulfur recovery process

Heliyon. 2020 Feb 10;6(2):e03358. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e03358. eCollection 2020 Feb.

Authors

Tirto Prakoso¹, Andreas Widodo², Antonius Indarto¹, Rina Mariyana³, Aditya Farhan Arif³, Tri Partono Adhi¹, Tatang Hernas Soerawidjaja¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Labtek X, Kampus ITB, Jalan Ganesha 10, Bandung, 40132, Indonesia.
² PT. Energy Management Indonesia (EMI), Jl. Pancoran Indah I No. 52, Jakarta, Indonesia.
³ PT. Rekayasa Industri (REKIND), Jl. Kalibata Timur I No. 36, Jakarta, Indonesia.

Abstract

Iron chelate liquid redox sulfur recovery (LRSR) has been one of the most frequently recommended technologies for the oxidation of H₂S in natural gas into elemental sulfur, particularly when the acid gas has a high CO₂/H₂S molar ratio. The process is however known to suffer from extensive oxidative ligand degradation that results in high operational costs. Moreover, poor biodegradability or toxicity of the existing ligand has become a concern. In this research, we demonstrated that gluconate, a naturally greener ligand, when coupled with manganese as the metal, has considerable potential to be a better redox agent. Manganese gluconate solution was more resistant against ligand degradation compared with iron NTA. As required, aerated solution was capable of converting dissolved NaHS into elemental sulfur. At sufficiently high pH, manganese gluconate solutions were stable enough from precipitation of manganese hydroxide, carbonate, or sulfides. An equilibrium calculation has been developed to understand the precipitation behavior.

Keywords: Acid gas; Chemical engineering; Elemental sulfur; Environmental chemical engineering; Environmental chemistry; Environmental hazard; Industrial chemistry; Liquid redox; Manganese gluconate; Natural gas; Sulfur recovery.