| Alan Shaver | |||||||||
Emeritus ProfessorB.Sc. (Carleton University, 1969) |
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Synthesis/ Catalysis |
Research Description:
Organic sulfur compounds and H2S contaminate crude oil and sour natural gas, respectively. In order to eliminate acid rain and air pollution, upon combustion of these as fuels, and to eliminate sulfur's poisonous effects on catalysts during refining of crude oil, these contaminates are removed. Crude oil is first hydrogenated to give the sulfur in the form of H2S (hydrodesulfurization). This extremely toxic gas, whether obtained via hydrodesulfurization or from sour gas, is converted to harmless H2O and elemental sulfur via the Claus Process (CP).
The CP is one of the most important pollution abatement processes used in the fossil fuel industry today; however, surprisingly little is known about its mechanism. It combines H2S and SO2 (obtained via partial combustion of the former) over a catalyst (usually alumina) at 300deg (2H2S + SO2 --> 3/8S8 + 2H2O). This heterogeneous reaction must involve sulfur catenation and oxygen transfer, a suite of processes that have no precedents in homogeneous systems.