Process Flow Sheet Simulation of Hydrogen Production Using Sulfur-Iodine Cycle

Abstract

Today hydrogen (H2) is considered as one of the most widely used new energy sources. The main reason for using H2 as new energy sources over other sources are it is a non-pollution and reproducible gas-form energy carrier. International cooperation aims at delivering H2 as a replacement fuel for vehicles. Hydrogen will be used as fuel for transport vehicles instead of gasoline/diesel oil/natural gas as fuel step by step in the future. The worldwide demand for hydrogen is about 50 million tons per year, and it is growing very rapidly. Many experts believe that hydrogen will overtake electricity as the preferred energy source. The aim of the thesis was to develop the flow sheets for the entire Sulfur-Iodine thermochemical cycle for hydrogen production. There were three reactions in this cycle: Bunsen reaction, sulfuric acid decomposition and the hydriodic acid decomposition. The S-I cycle has been divided into three sections. They are (i) Section I, in which Bunsen reaction is the major and key step. (ii) Section II, H2SO4 concentration and decomposition are the major steps. (iii) Section III, here HI decomposition will takes place through the reactive distillation column. Optimization of each and every section was studied.