SYNTHESIS GAS PURIFICATION PROCESSES
INTRODUCTION
Since the gases manufactured in Germany for chemical and synthetic fuel production purposes are put to use in chemical reactions that employ sensitive catalysts, it has been necessary to clean the gases of both their entrained solid and liquid materials and also to remove by physical or chemical means the deleterious components such as sulphur bearing gases and carbon dioxide.
This report covers the purification of feed gases for synthesis purposes, and describes the processing of these gases between their production and their utilization in the synthesis. It does not describe purification and separation of product gases by the Linde fractionation, adsorption of hydrocarbons on activated carbon, and absorption processes.
The many gases manufactured in Germany for hydrogen production or for production of synthesis gases for the Fischer-Tropsch, Oxo-synthesis, Synol-synthesis, Methanol-synthesis, Isobutanol-synthesis, ammonia-synthesis, Buna rubber synthesis, etc., invariably contained contaminating materials. The principle contaminants in the feed gases are usually one or more of the following: tar, aromatic compounds, dust, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen cyanide, and nitrogen, the type and quantity of contamination depending on the source of the gas. The degree of purification required depends of course upon the purpose for which the gas is to be used and the purification process is selected with that in mind. The object of this report is to present briefly the various processes that were used in Germany during the war to accomplish the desired purification of gas for these purposes.
For the purpose of presenting several processes in a logical manner in this report they are classified as follows:
Dusts and Tar Removal
I.G. Alkazid Process for Gas Purification
Claus Process for Recovery of Sulphur from H2S
H2S removal from Gas with Iron Oxide (Grobreiningung)
Removal of Organic Sulphur from Gases (Feinreinigung)
Gas Purification by Activated Carbon (Feinstreinigung)
Removal of CO2 from Gases
Removal of CO from Gases