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

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力与创造低生产成本的无碳氢的大规模来源有关。这种氢将由硫化氢（H2S）产生。能源行业每年处理近800万吨H2S。硫磺回收装置（SRU）用于安全管理H2S。SRU使用旧的克劳斯工艺，并且由于高资本和操作成本以及由于硫生产过剩导致的低收入而无利可图。与Claus工艺相反，H2S等离子体解离回收硫和氢，由此硫可用于油脱硫或作为商业产品。 分解等离子体中的H2S并产生氢气将使SRU有利可图，并将减少该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增加能源安全。该团队将开发一个高速、两相、涡流的数值模型，这将具有普遍的学术兴趣，并可应用于化学和能源行业。SBIR第一阶段项目提出开发一种等离子体技术，用于将H2S分解为硫和氢，取代硫回收装置中的克劳斯装置。第一阶段将重点关注对H2S解离开发计划至关重要的三项创新。主要目标是高能效，表示为比能量要求1.5 kWh/m3。这一目标将通过具有极高气体旋转速度的电弧等离子体管的特殊设计来实现，这将导致反应区中的氢-硫分离、化学平衡移动以及硫簇合和冷凝能量的内部回收。第二项创新将是开发一个气体动力学和化学动力学模型，用于对高速旋转的两相（气体和硫颗粒）涡流进行数值模拟。第三，阴极和等离子体发生器操作的稳定性将通过模拟炼油厂真实的气流成分的不同气体混合物进行测试。该奖项反映了NSF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.