Hydrogen Sulfide Adsorption from Natural Gas Using Silver-Modified 13X Molecular Sieve

The removal of hydrogen sulfide from natural gas and other gases such as biogas, refinery gases, and coal gas is required because it is toxic and corrosive, even in traces. Zeolites are widely used in the removal of H₂S from the abovementioned gases. In this work, we prepared an Ag-exchanged 13X molecular sieve by using different concentrations of AgNO₃ to increase its adsorption properties. XRD, SEM, and BET techniques were used to characterize samples. To determine the adsorption properties of each of the samples, a laboratory setup with a fixed-bed adsorber was utilized. The adsorption capacity of modified 13X increased when the molar concentration of AgNO₃ increased from 0.02 M to 0.05 M. However, the breakthrough time was attained quicker at a high molar concentration of 0.1 M AgNO₃, indicating a low adsorption capacity. When compared to unmodified 13X, the adsorption capacity of AgII-13X increased by about 50 times. The results of this study suggest that the silver-modified 13X molecular sieve is highly effective at extracting H₂S from natural gas.