Plasma dissociation of H2S with O2 addition

The process of hydrogen sulfide, H2S, dissociation with oxygen addition was studied in a gliding arc plasma discharge. The goal of the study was to develop a plasma process that could demonstrate increased H2S conversion, reduced specific energy requirement (SER), and similar H-2 yield when compared with plasma dissociation of pure H2S. The minimum SER of H-2 production was found to be 1.0 eV/molecule at atmospheric pressure, 14 L/min H2S and 2.8 L/min O-2 flow rates, and specific energy input (SEI) of 0.29 eV per H2S molecule. At the same conditions, the minimum SER of H2S destruction was found to be 0.43 eV/molecule, while hydrogen yield was observed to be 27%, water production was observed to be 38%, H2S destruction was observed to be 65%, and no measureable SO2 was detected. These results confirm the ability to reduce energy cost for H-2 production while increasing H2S destruction in the system without sacrificing production of H-2. This is very desirable from an industrial standpoint, where the processing and recycling of H2S is a very costly process. Copyright (C) 2014, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.