The present disclosure relates to a process and a process plant for desulfurizing a process gas comprising elemental sulfur, H 2 and water, comprising the steps of
a. directing the process gas to contact a material catalytically active in hydrogenation to provide a hydrogenated process gas under effective hydrogenation conditions,
b. cooling and phase separating the hydrogenated process gas, to provide a water condensate and a moisture reduced hydrogenated process gas,
c. oxidizing the moisture reduced hydrogenated process gas after addition of a source of O 2 , to form an SO 2 rich process gas,
d. catalytically oxidizing the SO 2 rich process gas to provide an SO 3 rich process gas
e. hydrating the SO 3 in said SO 3 rich process gas to form H 2 SO 4 and condensing sulfuric acid and providing a desulfurized process gas substantially free of H 2 SO 4 and a liquid stream of concentrated sulfuric acid.
This has the associated benefit of providing an SO 2 rich process gas of lower volume, compared to a process without intermediate withdrawal of water. If the process gas does not contain a sufficient amount of hydrogen, this may be added.