Performance estimates for Sulfur-based thermochemical hydrogen processes using OLI

Max Gorensek, Savannah River National Laboratory

Thermochemical cycles have been proposed for large-scale, centralized production of hydrogen from water using a high-temperature heat source such as an advanced gas-cooled reactor. The two cycles that are receiving the most attention in several development projects in the US and around the world are the Sulfur-Iodine (SI) and the Hybrid Sulfur (HyS). Both use high-temperature, vapor-phase thermal decomposition of concentrated sulfuric acid as the oxygen-producing step. The SI regenerates sulfuric acid from the sulfur dioxide co-product by reacting it with water and iodine, reducing the latter to hydrogen iodide. Hydrogen is produced in a third reaction, by thermally decomposing hydrogen iodide into its elemental constituents. The HyS replaces these two reactions with a single, electrochemical step, in which sulfur dioxide-depolarized electrolysis is used to regenerate sulfuric acid at the anode while producing hydrogen at the cathode. Modeling these processes in support of flowsheet development is challenging because they both involve highly nonideal behavior over a very wide temperature range. This presentation will review the results of Sulfur cycle flowsheet development efforts at the Savannah River National Laboratory using the OLI MSE model.

Max Gorensek, Savannah River National Laboratory

Max Gorensek is a Senior Fellow Engineer in the Computational and Statistical Science Department at the Savannah River National Laboratory and an Adjunct Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of South Carolina. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from Case Western Reserve University, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton University, all in chemical engineering. Max has almost twenty years experience in chemical process modeling and simulation and twenty-five years in chemical process R&D. His current areas of interest include: steady-state and dynamic simulation of chemical processes, phase equilibrium models for electrolyte and nonelectrolyte systems, flowsheet development, and process optimization, with a focus on thermochemical hydrogen production. Max is currently chair of the Nuclear Engineering Division of the AIChE.

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