Hydrogen sulfide dissociation using reactive sulfur species

Abstract

The disclosure relates to methods of irradiating a gas containing hydrogen sulfide (HS) with high energy light to photolytically cleave some of the hydrogen sulfide in the gas to form sulfur-containing reactive species. The sulfur-containing reactive species act as autocatalysts that react with some of the remaining hydrogen sulfide in the gas to generate hydrogen gas and one or more sulfur-containing products. The methods remove hydrogen sulfide from the gas and produce hydrogen gas. The methods can be implemented in a component of a hydrocarbon producing well (e.g., a wellhead, a flow line, a production casing, a production tubing), a component used to transport the gas mixture produced by the well (e.g., a transportation pipeline), a gas treatment system (e.g., a tail gas treatment system), a borehole and/or an underground formation.