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Many work related activities are the reasons behind putting H2S awareness as a priority.
It is not so easy to fully explain every thing related to H2S in a single blog.
But we can consider this post as a short H2S awareness for a brief identification about this hazard.
Our speech shall be organized under the following items:
what is H2S gas (Hydrogen Sulphide)
The first step in our H2S awareness is to simply know what is this monster we are about to deal with.
Characteristics of H2S
H2S gas is a poisonous, corrosive, odorless, colorless gas.
In low concentrations, it smells like rotten egg. But this small concentration is not the problem.
Because in dangerous concentrations, the victim will not be able to smell it.
one of the most critical features of this gas is that it is flammable (Flammable range = 4.3 – 45%)
H2S density
Hydrogen sulfide gas has a density of 1.36 Kg/L
which means that it is more heavy than air and so it can be found in lower layers
Chemistry of h2s
Chemically it consists of 2 atoms of Hydrogen and one Sulphur atom.
h2s other names
H2S gas is also known as sewer gas, stink damp, swamp gas and manure gas.
Chemistry of H2S
A major element in our H2S awareness post is to know some of its production ways.
Being flammable, when it is exposed to fire it produces SO2 and a blue flame.
Sulfur trioxide (SO3) is formed in presence of more O2, which quickly hydrates to H2SO4
A catalyst or high temperature are used to produce elemental sulfur and water in a reaction
Which is very useful to get rid of H2S.
To decompose H2S without a catalyst, 1200 C is enough and the yield is elemental sulfur.
This was not every chemical fact for H2s
and we will provide you with more data through next posts.
But for this small H2S awareness, we shall move to another feature.
sources of H2S
Some anaerobic bacteria can produce H2S through breaking down organic matters (H2S here is the waste biproduct)
This process occurs in places like sewers, swamps, volcanic gases and natural gas
We can obtain H2S by separation from natural gas (sour gas)
Also, when exposing hydrogen to molten sulfur at 450 C, H2S gas is produced.
and in this case a common hydrogen source is the hydrocarbon (oil and gas)
also when exposing some metal sulfides to water, the product is H2S
What makes h2s dangerous
So many reasons are behind the classification of H2S as one of the most dangerous hazards in work places.
Through this small H2S awareness article we will identify some.
health effects of h2s
H2S toxicity is similar to CO gas toxicity, both are inhibiting the cellular respiration
Justus von Liebig described this gas’s toxisity by saying:
it binds with the iron inside the human cell preventing the respiration
During this H2S awareness post we have to mention that this gas inhibits the smell sense
for this reason we mentioned above that the victim will not know that they are in great danger
Other thing that makes it very tough enemy is that H2S is a broad spectrum poison
as it can affect several organs in the victim’s body, especially the CNS
H2S effect on environment
We will mention this effect in short terms to save time
H2S when released, it can combine with the air
not only threatening the life and health of the surrounding people.
but also it can for SO2 and even H2SO4 (sulfuric acid) when mixed with rain water
in a phenomena called (acid rains)
this can cause great damage to the farmed crops and plants and other bad environmental aspects.
H2S effect on equipment
This is very common in oil and gas industries
Sour gases (which are including H2S) are very corrosive.
due to the formation of sulfuric acid which can cause rapid deformation and corrosion for pipelines.
How to monitor H2S
There are many techniques to monitor and measure H2S
Some are suitable for work site monitoring and the others can fit laboratories activities.
Within the following few words in our H2S awareness article we shall mention some of these methods.
H2S portable Detectors
These are devices that can be used in monitoring H2S percentages at working sites
depends on a the use of electrochemical cells that can translate a reaction involving H2S into an electrical signal
The electrical current produced is proportional with the gas concentration.
This method is very proper to serve as PPE for workers.
Colorimetric Tubes
Depend on a chemical reaction between H2S and another chemical filling a tube
This reaction results for a color change
The more color portion changed, the more H2S we have
Spectrophotometry
This method depends on the light absorption at specific wavelength
The wavelength it then determined and the amount of H2S is determined.
also used for lab analysis
As we informed you at the beginning of our article, it will be as short as possible.
But for sure we will follow this introduction with more posts to complete our H2S awareness in details.
So, wait for more details telling us the deep secrets of H2S gas.
But until this time, stay safe because your life worth it.
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