Hydrogen sulfide conversion rate approaches 100%! Three-dimensional chemistry is driving a new breakthrough in China’s clean hydrogen sulfide treatment technology.
Release date:
2026-01-06
On January 6, the “Off-Field Electrocatalytic Technology for the Complete Decomposition of Hydrogen Sulfide into Hydrogen and Sulfur,” jointly developed by the team led by Academician Can Li from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Sanwei Chemical, passed the evaluation of scientific and technological achievements organized by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation in Beijing. The experts on the evaluation committee unanimously agreed that: This achievement has reached an internationally leading level and has been unanimously approved in the evaluation. It is recommended to scale up the equipment and accelerate its promotion and application.
This technology decouples chemical reactions from charge transport in the reaction space, using electron mediation to shift electrode-surface reactions away from the electrode itself. In a reactor external to the electrode, hydrogen sulfide oxidation to sulfur and proton reduction to hydrogen are carried out separately. To date, this technology has been granted 12 patents and has 26 patent applications pending, forming a comprehensive patent portfolio. According to technology novelty search reports and the current industrial landscape both domestically and internationally, no similar technology has been reported previously. Therefore, the “off-site electrocatalytic technology for the complete decomposition of hydrogen sulfide into hydrogen and sulfur” represents an original technology with independent intellectual property rights in this field.
Qu Sichiu, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the Group Corporation, delivered a speech.
Hao Wenliang, General Manager of the engineering company, answers questions from reporters.
Based on this technology, Li Can’s team, in collaboration with companies such as Sanwei Chemical, has successfully built the first-ever pilot-scale demonstration facility in China—and one of the first globally—capable of processing 100,000 cubic meters of hydrogen sulfide per year at Xinxiang Zhongxin Chemical Co., Ltd. in Henan Province. This facility has now been operating continuously and stably for over 1,000 hours, achieving complete conversion of hydrogen sulfide and producing sulfur with a purity exceeding 99.95% and high-purity hydrogen gas with a purity surpassing 99.999%. This breakthrough provides a brand-new pathway for the complete elimination and resource utilization of hydrogen sulfide, enabling the clean treatment of hydrogen sulfide and other pollutant emissions to the greatest extent possible. Moreover, it realizes dual resource recovery benefits through “hydrogen production + sulfur recovery,” thereby broadening the avenues for clean, low-carbon hydrogen production in industrial applications.
Off-site electrocatalytic full decomposition of hydrogen sulfide for hydrogen and sulfur production—a 100,000 cubic meters per year industrial demonstration project.
Building on our existing achievements, as the industry leader in domestic sulfur recovery technology, Sanwei Chemical will continue to deepen its collaboration with the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and further accelerate the scaling-up and industrialization of this technology. We will remain firmly committed to innovation-driven technological advancement, leverage our strong engineering capabilities for practical implementation, and embrace green, low-carbon development as the cornerstone of our growth. In our ongoing journey toward achieving the “dual carbon” goals, we will continue to make significant contributions.
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