Dissociation of H2S in non-equilibrium gliding arc “tornado” discharge

Summary form only given: Hydrogen sulfide, H₂S, is a byproduct of oil refinement Therefore, efficient H₂S treatment and utilization is crucial to the oil and gas industry. The traditional method of H₂S treatment employs Claus processes that can be described by a gross reaction of partial oxidation. In this reaction, all hydrogen converts to water. However, from the standpoint of thermodynamics, H₂S is a cost effective source of hydrogen. The dissociation energy of H₂S is only 0.2 eV per molecule. Therefore, the possibility to dissociate H₂S into sulfur and hydrogen is important commercially. Such prospects are particularly important for oil industry, which consumes large amounts hydrogen in oil hydro-treatment. Currently, we are developing a "warm" plasma system- Gliding Arc in Tornado (GAT) that was initially developed for natural gas partial oxidation. GAT utilizes a gliding arc plasma discharge in reverse vortex flow. The GAT, like many other plasma discharges, can be used as a volumetric catalyst in various chemical processes. Some main features that make the GAT attractive are that it ensures uniform gas treatment and it has rather long residence times. Also, the reverse vortex flow creates a low temperature zone near the cylindrical wall of the reactor and a high temperature zone near the reactor axis. This, in combination with a centrifugal effect, allows sulfur extraction from the high temperature zone to the low temperature zone. As a result, sulfur quenching can occur within the reactor. Since H₂S is quite susceptible to plasma- decomposition, GAT is not only a viable method but may also be a cost-effective method for H₂S dissociation. Our experimental results obtained so far demonstrate the possibility to reach rather low energy cost of H₂S dissociation on the level of 1 eV per H₂ molecule.