Process for the generation of hydrogen sulfide in the presence of pyrite as catalyst

Samenvatting

The invention provides a process for the generation of hydrogen sulfide, which process comprises contacting elemental sulfur in water with H2, in the presence of pyrite as catalyst. The process is very suitable for the recovery of at least one metal as metal sulfide from a metal-containing stream containing the at least one metal in dissolved form, by allowing the hydrogen sulfide so produced and the at least one metal to form the metal sulfide, which may then be recovered as a precipitate. Moreover, this invention describes a cheap, easy, environmentally benign, potentially one-pot chemical synthesis method for pyrite to be used as catalyst from earth-abundant elements at mild conditions