Pyrolysed carbon supported cobalt porphyrin, an electrocatalyst that is frequently used for oxygen reduction in fuel cells, is evaluated for catalytic oxidation of hydrogen sulfide by dissolved dioxygen. The catalyst performs best after heat treatment at 880degreesC, at pH 8. Analysis of the reaction products reveals that sulfur is the dominant product throughout the investigated pH range 5-10. The catalyst performs much better than powdered activated carbon, granular activated carbon and different other forms of unmodified carbon catalysts. This is as far as we know the first time that heat treated cobalt porphyrins are evaluated for non-electrocatalytic applications. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.