Numerical analysis of a SO3 packed column decomposition reactor with alloy RA 330 structural material for nuclear hydrogen production using the sulfur- iodine process

A directly heated SO3 decomposer for the sulfur-iodine and hybrid-sulfur processes has been introduced and analyzed using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code CFX 11. The use of a directly heated decomposition reactor in conjunction with a very high temperature reactor (VHTR) allows for higher decomposition reactor operating temperatures. However, the high temperatures and strongly corrosive operating conditions associated with SO3 decomposition present challenges for the structural materials of decomposition reactors. In order to resolve these problems, we have designed a directly heated SO3 decomposer using RA 330 alloy as a structural material and have performed a CFD analysis of the design based on the finite rate chemistry model. The CFD results show the maximum temperature of the structural material could be maintained sufficiently below 1073 K, which is considered the target temperature for RA 330. The CFD simulations also indicated good performance in terms of SO3 decomposition for the design parameters of the present study