Abstract
Benzene, toluene and xylene (BTX) are present as contaminants in the H 2S gas stream entering a Claus furnace. The exhaust gases from the furnace enter catalytic units, where BTX form soot particles. These particles clog and deactivate the catalysts. A solution to this problem is BTX oxidation before the gases enter catalyst beds. This work presents a theoretical investigation on benzene oxidation by SO2. Density functional theory is used to develop a detailed mechanism for phenyl radical -SO2 interactions. The mechanism begins with SO2 addition to phenyl radical after overcoming an energy barrier of 6.4 kJ/mol. This addition reaction is highly exothermic, where a reaction energy of 182 kJ/mol is released. The most favorable pathway involves O-S bond breakage, leading to the release of SO. A remarkable similarity between the pathways for phenyl radical oxidation by O2 and its oxidation by SO2 is observed. The reaction rate constants are also evaluated to facilitate process simulations. © 2014 American Chemical Society.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 10608-10617 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research |
Volume | 53 |
Issue number | 26 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 20 2014 |
Bibliographical note
KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01Acknowledgements: This work has been financially supported by the Gas Processing and Materials Science Research Centre, The Petroleum Institute, UAE.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Chemical Engineering
- General Chemistry
- Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering