Energy & Fuels 1993, 7, 155-158
155
Studies on the Stability of Dimethyl Disulfide-Polysulfide Mixtures under Sour Gas Pressure Peter D. Clark,' Edward Fitzpatrick, Clement S. C. Lau, and Christopher 0. Oriakhi Department of Chemistry, The University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive N . W,, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2N IN4 Received August 19, 1992. Revised Manuscript Received October 5, 1992
In the presence of a base, elemental sulfur reacts with dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) to form a mixture of dimethyl polysulfides (DMPS) in equilibrium with sulfur. It has been shown that, at 150 "C in the presence of gas mixtures containing H2S, mixtures of DMDS and DMPS decompose to methanethiol and carbon disulfide. When H2S was present in excess (>25:1 H&DMDS-DMPS mole ratio), methanethiol was the major decomposition product (17mol % of added DMPS) but, at lower mole ratios (
