Adsorption methods for purification of petrochemical industrial gas emissions from sulfur compounds using adsorbents from industrial and agricultural waste. A short review

The adsorption process has established itself as one of the best technologies for cleaning process liquids and gases worldwide, and activated carbon, zeolites, silica gel, etc. are undoubtedly considered universal adsorbents for removing various types of pollutants. However, the extensive use of industrial adsorbents is sometimes constrained by their high cost. Attempts have been made to develop inexpensive adsorbents using numerous agro-industrial and municipal wastes. The use of waste as inexpensive adsorbents is attractive due to their contribution to reducing waste disposal costs, thereby promoting environmental protection. This review presents the main stages of gas emission formation at a petrochemical plant and their possible composition, and analyzes the negative impact of sulfur compounds on thermal power equipment. Based on the literature review, an extensive list of low-cost adsorbents (obtained using various types of waste) from the world literature was analyzed and compiled and their adsorption capacities for sulfur compounds were presented. It is evident from the literature review that various low-cost adsorbents have shown good potential for the removal of sulfur compounds from petrochemical industrial gas emissions. However, there are several problems associated with the use of low-cost adsorbents, which were discussed in this paper. Based on the literature review, several adsorption compositions prepared from the sludge of water treatment plants of thermal power plants were developed and presented for use as an adsorbent of sulfur compounds from gas emissions of petrochemical industries. The developed compositions had sulfur capacity similar to the literature data.