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

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的广泛影响和商业潜力与创造低生产成本、无碳的大规模氢气来源有关。这些氢将由硫化氢（H2S）产生。能源工业每年处理近800万吨H2S。硫磺回收装置（sru）用于安全管理H2S。sru使用旧的Claus工艺，由于资金和运营成本高，加上硫磺生产过剩导致的收入低，因此无利可图。与Claus工艺相反，H2S等离子体解离回收硫和氢，其中硫可以用于石油脱硫或作为商业产品。分离等离子体中的H2S并产生氢气将使sru有利可图，并将减少行业的二氧化碳排放。这项技术将减少社会对化石燃料生产的需求，并在向可再生能源过渡期间提高能源安全。该团队将开发一个高速、两相、涡旋流动的数值模型，该模型将引起普遍的学术兴趣，并可应用于化学和能源工业。该SBIR一期项目拟开发一种等离子体技术，用于将H2S解离为硫和氢，取代硫回收装置中的Claus装置。第一阶段将重点关注对H2S解离开发项目至关重要的三项创新。主要目标是高能效，表示为1.5千瓦时/立方米的比能需求。这一目标将通过电弧等离子体的特殊设计来实现，电弧等离子体具有极高的气体旋转速度，这将导致反应区氢硫分离，化学平衡转移，以及硫聚集和凝聚能量的内部回收。第二个创新将是开发一种气体动力学和化学动力学模型，用于两相（气体和硫粒子）高速旋转涡流的数值模拟。第三，阴极和等离子体操作的稳定性将用不同的气体混合物来测试，这些气体混合物模仿炼油厂真实流动的成分。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.