Shell Oil Comapny

Arnab Chatterjee

Ronald Jan Schoonebeek

Carolus Matthias Anna Maria Mesters

Eri Ito

The present invention provides a process for purifying natural gas, comprising removing mercaptans from a natural gas stream by a combination of an amine-based separation unit and a selective oxidation unit to obtain a purified natural gas stream, wherein at least part of the mercaptans are converted into at least elemental sulphur in the selective oxidation unit by selective catalytic oxidation.

Process for producing purified natural gas

The present invention provides a process for the selective oxidation of hydrogen sulphide contained in a hydrogen sulphide-containing hydrocarbon feed gas to elemental sulphur. The hydrogen sulphide-containing hydrocarbon feed gas and a sulphur dioxide-containing gas are supplied to a reaction zone containing a TiO-comprising catalyst, wherein elemental sulphur and a gaseous stream depleted in hydrogen sulphide are formed. The gas feeds are contacted with the TiOcontaining catalyst at elevated pressure and at a temperature in the range of from 120 and below 160 &#xb0; C., under such conditions that the elemental sulphur formed is essentially in liquid form. At least part of the sulphur dioxide-containing gas is obtained by combusting elemental sulphur to obtain a gaseous mixture of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen and then concentrating the gaseous mixture to provide the sulphur dioxide-containing gas.

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Amsterdam, Netherlands

Arnab Chatterjee