The present application relates to a process for removing hydrogen sulfide
H.sub.2S from a gas (1) by contacting said gas with a liquid solution (2)
containing ferric sulfate in an absorption column (RC). Ferric sulfate
and H.sub.2S react at room temperature and at a pressure ranging from 1
to 1.2 atm. Ferric ions being reduced to two-valent iron and sulfide
oxidised to elemental sulfur. The liquid (4) coming out of the absorption
column is filtered in two steps, the retentate (6, 8) comprising
elemental sulfur, the filtrate (5, 7) containing the iron ions. The
filtrate is sent to a bioreactor (RB) for regeneration, i.e. oxidation of
iron to Fe.sup.3+ by means of thiobacillus ferroxidans and air injection
(10). The regenerated solution is reused in the absorption column (RC).
The process faces the problems relating to the alignment between the
chemical step and the biological step in order to obtain a process which
can stably run continuously.