Treatment of gases containing sulfur dioxide

A process for removing SO.sub.2 from a gas containing the same which comprises

• a. recirculating an aqueous absorbent through a circuit which includes a gas scrubbing zone and a thiosulfate generation zone outside of said scrubbing zone but still in said circuit;
• b. introducing into said gas scrubbing zone a sulfite-forming additive selected from the class consisting of the hydroxides and carbonates of the alkali metals, the alkaline earth metals, and ammonia in approximately the amount required to convert the SO.sub.2 in said SO.sub.2 -containing gas to sulfite;
• c. maintaining in said recirculating aqueous absorbent a thiosulfate having the same cation as said sulfite-forming additive, the minimum concentration of said thiosulfate being 50 weight percent of the total sulfur-containing solutes in the aqueous absorbent as the latter leaves said scrubbing zone;
• d. maintaining the pH of said recirculating aqueous absorbent in said scrubbing zone between 6 and 8;
• e. passing said SO.sub.1 -containing gas through said gas scrubbing zone in contact with said recirculating aqueous absorbent, whereby an effluent gas stream containing a reduced amount of SO.sub.2 results, and an effluent water stream containing sulfites and thiosulfate is produced;
• f. reacting sulfites formed in step (e) with a sulfite-reducing agent in said thiosulfate generation zone which is maintained at a pH between 6 and 7.8 to convert said sulfites to the corresponding thiosulfate;
• g. withdrawing a portion of said recirculating aqueous absorbent from said circuit;
• h. subjecting said portion to reduction by a thiosulfate-reducing agent to produce fresh aqueous absorbent containing said sulfite-forming additive and said sulfite-reducing agent;
• and
• i. returning said fresh aqueous absorbent to said thiosulfate generation zone.