A New Novel Derived from Sodium Carbonate for The Elimination of Hydrogen Sulfide from Biogas

Abstract

Worldwide, the problems related to conventional energy resources can be overcome using renewable energy resources such as biogas. The availability of pollutants such as hydrogen sulfide that can harm the end user's health necessitated the researchers to find a way to eliminate the pollutant from the biofuel. The study uses sodium carbonate (soda ash) from Lake Natron to remove hydrogen sulfide from biogas. Different parameters such as particle size (280 and 400μm), the mass of sorbent (25, 50, and 75g), and biogas flow rate (0.04 m 3 /h and 0.03) were considered in this study. Mineral composition, textural characteristics, and surface morphology of the sorbent were determined via X-ray, Quantachrome NOVA 4200, and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) respectively. The high adsorption ability of 0.02g/100g and removal efficiency of 94% was noted in the reactor containing particle size 280μ, mass 75g, and biogas flow rate of 0.03m 3 /h. The used-up sorbent was regenerated with great success for 1, 5, and 7 days considering that 7 days regenerated sorbent shows good performance with an adsorption ability of 0.01g/100g and a removal efficiency of 90% observed at the breakthrough point with 5 round/cycles. Its performance such as adsorption ability and high removal efficiency makes the material to be promising sorbent material for biogas purification.