An FT-IR study of adsorption of sulfur dioxide on alpha- and gamma-alumina

In the Claus process hydrogen sulfide reacts to elemental sulfur. Because the Claus reaction is thermodynamically limited, sulfur compounds are still present in Claus tailgas. To avoid air pollution, the tailgas has to be treated.Alfa- and gamma-alumina are being used either as a catalyst or as a support for an active component in the Claus process and some tailgas treatment processes. In order to elucidate the mechanism of the Claus reaction, the adsorption of sulfur dioxide on both of the above aluminas was investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.Different adsorbed species displaying a different heat of adsorption were detected. A broad band near 3500 cm^–1 is associated with the basic hydroxyl groups. This band is assigned to a hydrogen bond between the surface of alumina and a bisulfite species. As bisulfite species are reactive towards hydrogen sulfide, we assume that bisulfite species are active intermediates on alumina in the Claus reaction.