Wet scrubbing intensification applied to hydrogen sulphide removal in waste water treatment plant

Hydrogen sulphide removal in a waste water treatment plant at semi‐industrial scale in a compact wet scrubber has been investigated. The gas residence time in the scrubber was reduced to 30 ms using a NaOCl caustic scrubbing solution. The contactor is composed of a wire mesh packing structure where liquid and gas flow co‐currently at high velocity (>12 m s −1 ). H 2 S removal percentages higher than 95% could be achieved whereas a moderate pressure drop was measured (<4000 Pa). Both the hydrodynamic and chemical conditions can influence the efficiency of the process. Correlations were developed to predict both the pressure drop and the H 2 S removal efficiency at given operating conditions.