Ammar Ben Brahim
Presently, there is no method of producing cost-effective hydrogen, environmentally-friendly, and suitable for a largescale production. Thermo-chemical cycles, represented essentially by the hybrid-sulphur cycle and the electrolysis of water, are the most promising processes for ‘clean’ hydrogen mass production for the future. This paper presents a new cleaner process for hydrogen mass production; the idea consists in coupling the electrolysis phenomenon upstream to the sulphuric acid plant. In other words, this proposition consists in modifying the hybrid cycle Westinghouse by the elimination of the sulphuric acid decomposition stage, which corresponds to 61% of the energy distribution of this cycle. To confirm the efficiency of this process, a mass balance study is carried out on sulphuric acid plant, using a double contact/double absorption process, this study demonstrates that this new method can treat 8 t.day-1 of sulphur dioxide, recover 12 t.day-1 of sulphuric acid 50%wt and produce 6889 m3.day-1 of hydrogen. The application of this idea can achieve economical and environmental benefits. It is concluded that the usage of this electrochemical process can significantly reduce the SO2 air pollution in Gabes (South Tunisia) by the elimination of 46 .94 t. day-1. The results are ambitious for future application of the new process which can succeed in the realisation of 3.92 million dollars of gain every day.
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