The following Thesis is comprised of two separate and individual parts, both of which relate to the disposal of hydrogen sulfide. Section One is an investigation into the possibility of developing a hydrogen sulfide decomposition process which would produce both hydrogen and elemental sulfur. Section Two deals with the speciation study of a catalyst used in a traditional process which converts hydrogen sulfide gas into elemental sulfur. / Section 1: <p> The disposal of hydrogen sulfide by electrolysis to produce both hydrogen and sulfur appears to an interesting alternative to the conventional Claus process which wastes the hydrogen content of hydrogen sulfide. The electrolysis at room temperature has been reported in the literature, however, the investigation was somewhat limited by the low conductivity displayed by the electrolysis solution (pyridine/hydrogen sulfide mixture). </p> <p> The primary goal of this research was to construct a suitable apparatus and carry out a series of conductivity measurements of liquid hydrogen sulfide at room temperature with and without the addition of possible electrolytes. The objective was to determine if an electrolyte could be found that would increase the conductivity to a suitably high level to warrant the further investigation of the electrolysis process. </p> <p> Of the six possible electrolytes, only tetrapropyl ammonium iodide increased the conductivity to a desirable level. A 0.4034 M solution of this alkyl ammonium iodide in liquid hydrogen sulfide increased the conductivity (at 23 C) from 7.00 X 10-8 ohm-1cm-1 for the pure solvent to 1.13 X 10-2 ohm-1cm-1. This increase was attributed to the formation of the corresponding hydrogen sulfide adduct and its subsequent dissociation in liquid hydrogen sulfide. </p> </p> Now that it has clearly been established that appropriately high conducting solutions of hydrogen sulfide can be prepared, the further investigation of the electrolysis of hydrogen sulfide as a viable industrial process is warranted. </p> Section 2: <p> This section deals with the investigation of species present in vanadium(IV): citrate solutions over a wide range of pH values. Various spectroscopic methods (UV/VIS, ESR, vanadium Sl FT-NMR) were used to probe this specific system. The accumulated spectroscopic data were rationalized on the basis of thirteen vanadium(IV) containing species, four of which were proposed to be vanadium(IV): citrate species. Based on the observed spectroscopic data an equilibrium diagram was prepared which illustrates the vanadium(IV) species present as a function of pH. </p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)