Synthesis of dibenzyl disulfide using hydrogen sulfide and solid tri-phase catalyst

Abstract

Hydrogen sulfide is a colorless gas with an obnoxious rotten egg odour. H2S is highly flammable, noxious, and vitriolic in nature. Many petroleum and natural gas processing industries produces H2S as a by-product gaseous stream. Most H2S in the air comes from natural sulfur cycle. Exposure to H2S can lead to various health issues like burning/tearing of eyes, cough, and shortness of breath. Moderate concentration can lead to respiratory issues. So it is advisable to make use of this gas in other industrial operations. In industries, normally H2S present in gas streams is absorbed in amines and is converted to sulfur through conventional Claus process. From economical point of view, sulfur is not so good product, so the idea is to find out a substitute for the Claus process where H2S rich amine instead of going to the scrubber is fed to some reactor for production of compounds like thioether, disulfides which are more valuable than sulfur. Also the need of additional scrubber and other Claus units is ruled out in the new alternative process which makes the overall process economical. The present work includes the study of synthesis of Dibenzyl Disulfide using H2S rich aq. Alkanolamine, sulfur and Benzyl chloride in presence of triphase catalyst. Also kinetic study by variation of temperature, speed, catalyst loading etc. is done to examine their effect on conversion.