Plasmas are reviewed as activation media for an oxidation of H2S or CH3SH d
iluted in air, CO2 or steam in order to convert them into less malodorous S
O2. The product can be then used as a reagent in a Claus-like process in pr
esence of water to convert twice as much of initial pollutants into element
al sulfur. A particular attention is devoted to the gliding electrical disc
harges (GlidArc). These powerful discharges produce non-thermal plasma, whi
ch activates oxidation reactions. Most of experiments were performed using
one and four-stage GlidArc-I reactors. Air-diluted sulfides at initial conc
entrations up to 1% (H2S) or 0.1% (CH3SH) were processed at up to 70 m(3)(n
)/h flow rate and 5 kW power scale. The tests were done at 1 atm. Up to 100
% clean-up was obtained at a quite low energy cost depending on initial pol
lutant concentration: roughly 1000 kWh per 1 kg of removed sulfur at 100 pp
m of H2S, but only 10 kWh/kg for 1% initial H2S in air. Almost the same ene
rgies were needed in the case of CH3SH-air mixtures. Using a very simple wa
shing column in which water saturates with the produced SO2 and so captures
unprocessed H2S we cut these process energy by three, avoiding the SO2 emi
ssion and obtaining non-toxic sulfur. New development based on GlidArc-II b
rush-like electric discharges is also presented. Preliminary tests are very
promising as the energy expense is already cut down by a factor of two wit
h respect to the GlidArc-I devices. Up to industrial scale tests can be the
refore performed.