Hydrogen production by microwave plasma decomposition of H2S at atmospheric pressure with cooling implemented in its afterglow

In this work, H2S is decomposed with the use of a N-2 microwave (MW) plasma torch at atmospheric pressure with hydrogen as the main product as well as elemental sulfur. The variation of the conversion rate of H2S into H-2 is investigated with respect to various dilution ratios of H2S to N-2 as the carrier gas, MW power, total flow rate, and arrangement of the cooling rods in the reaction chamber. It is experimentally found that direct cooling of the afterglow by introducing a cooling rod downstream in the reaction chamber enhances the conversion rate, and an optimum for each conversion curve is determined, which is dependent of MW power, gas flow rate, and relative distance of the cooling rod in the afterglow.