Abstract: In the Stretford process wherein hydrogen sulfide, obtained for example, in the catalytic conversion of sulfur compounds, is absorbed into an alkaline solution of the sodium salt of anthraquinone disulfonic acid (ADA) and sodium vanadate and eventually converted to elemental sulfur by a reaction of the sodium vanadate with the hydrogen sulfide, some of the hydrogen sulfide undergoes side reactions and is converted to undesirable by-products, e.g., sodium sulfate and sodium thiosulfate. These by-products were removed in the prior art by burning; however, the expensive salts of ADA were also burned in the process of the prior art. In the present improvement, the sodium salts of ADA are preferentially removed in an adsorption column filled with a macroporous adsorption resin, prior to the combustion stage. The adsorption column can be regenerated either with water or with an aqueous solution of sodium carbonate formed in the combustion stage.

Abstract: A separating material for thin layer chromatography comprising an inert substrate coated with a sorption agent consisting essentially of silica gel particles about 3 to 8 .mu.m in diameter in a layer 100-300 .mu.m thick.