SBIR Phase I: Carbon-Free Hydrogen Production by Plasma Dissociation of Hydrogen Sulfide

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is connected to creating a large-scale source of low production cost, carbon-free hydrogen. This hydrogen will be produced from hydrogen sulfide (H2S). Nearly 8 million tons of H2S are processed by the energy industry each year. Sulfur recovery units (SRUs) are used to safely manage H2S. SRUs utilize an old Claus process and are unprofitable because of high capital and operational costs, in addition to low revenues due to sulfur overproduction. In contrast to the Claus process, H2S plasma dissociation recovers sulfur and hydrogen, whereby the sulfur can be used for oil desulfurization or as a commercial product. Dissociating H2S in plasma and producing hydrogen will make SRUs profitable and will reduce the industry's carbon dioxide emissions. This technology will diminish societal needs for fossil fuel production and increase energy security during the transition to renewable energy. The team will develop a numerical model for the high-speed, two-phase, vortex flows that will have a general academic interest and can be applied in the chemical and energy industries. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to develop a plasma technology for the dissociation of H2S to sulfur and hydrogen, replacing Claus plants in Sulfur Recovery Units. Phase I will focus on three innovations that are critical for the H2S dissociation development program. The major goal is the high energy efficiency expressed as Specific Energy Requirement 1.5 kWh/m3. This goal will be achieved by a special design of the arc plasmatron with an extremely high speed of gas rotation that will result in hydrogen-sulfur separation in the reaction zone, the chemical equilibrium shift, and the internal recuperation of the sulfur clusterization and condensation energy. The second innovation will be the development of a gas-dynamic and chemical-kinetic model for the numerical simulation of two-phase (gas and sulfur particles) vortex flows with a high speed of rotation. Third, the stability of the cathode and plasmatron operation will be tested with different gas mixtures that imitate the composition of real flows at refineries. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.