Recovery Act - Reducing Energy and Carbon Intensity in Oil Refining

As a toxic waste generated during the processing of oil and natural gas, hydrogen sulfide must be disposed of in an environmentally benign manner. Unfortunately the present disposal method, the Claus process, only extracts the sulfur content while wasting the much more valuable hydrogen portion. In addition, it is capital intensive. Throughout the industry, the Claus process is known as a tool to simply lower sulfur dioxide emissions rather than to derive a profit. If the hydrogen portion could be recovered, then a nuisance can be transformed into a valuable commodity. Recovering an expensive and coveted fuel from a waste such as hydrogen sulfide would bring a new level of efficiency to the petroleum sector, already reeling under high energy costs. Innovative Energy Solution has developed the first cost-effective method for extracting hydrogen from hydrogen sulfide. This process possesses a 31% hydrogen yield making it the only economically viable process to extract hydrogen from hydrogen sulfide. Therefore, it is the most cost-effective method for extracting hydrogen: whether from hydrogen sulfide or any other source. The company is proposing an improvement to the reactor design to raise that efficiency threshold closer to 40%. Such a feat would render the process even more economical while driving closer to commercialization. The goal of this Phase I project is to modify the company