The High Dose Rate Radiolysis of H2S: Sulfur as an Electron Scavenger

Abstract

The radiolysis of gaseous hydrogen sulfide has been studied in the presence of added sulfur at 200–250 °C. At 2 × 1027 eV g−1 s−1 sulfur reduces the hydrogen yield from G(H2) = 12.0 ± 0.3 to G(H2) = 7.3 ± 0.3. This reduction in yield appears to be due to electron attachment by the sulfur thereby suppressing formation of hydrogen from dissociative neutralization. Assuming the sulfur is S8 we estimate the attachment rate of electrons to sulfur to be about 1 × 1014 M−1 s−1.At 25 °C the reduction in the H2 yield at 2 × 1027 eV g−1 s−1 with increasing dose appears to be due to polysulfanes rather than radiolytic sulfur.Over the range of 1026 – 1028 eV g−1 s−1 the H2 yield increases from G(H2) = 11 to G(H2) = 13. Mechanisms to account for this increase are discussed.