Research on Purification of H2SO4 and HI Phases in IS Process

  • Mr Ying Bai, Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University, China
  • Ping Zhang, Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University, China
  • Prof Jianchen Wang, Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University, China
  • Prof Jingming Xu, Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University, China

    • Iodine-sulfur (IS)thermochemical water-splitting cycle is the most promising method of thermochemical hydrogen production process. To avoid the undesirable side reactions between HI and H2SO4, it is necessary to purify the two phases formed by Bunsen reaction. The purification process could be achieved by reverse reaction of Bunsen reaction. In this work, the purification process was carried with both batch reactor and continuous reactor. The influences of operational parameters, such as the reaction temperature, the flow rate of nitrogen gas, and the composition of the raw material solutions, on the purification effects, were investigated. Results showed that the purification of H2SO4 phase was mainly affected by the temperature,the HI impurity can be removed completely under a temperature above 130ºC; while the purification of HIx phase became more effective with increasing of both the flow rate of nitrogen gas and the temperature. Based on those results, the operational parameters for the purification of the two acids in IS process were proposed.

    Key words:IS Process; H2SO4 Phase; HI Phase; Purification