Measurement of mass transfer coefficient in direct contact sulfuric acid concentration for IS process

Hydrogen is expected to serve as a clean secondary energy, because it can be manufactured from water, used in a variety of energy end-use sectors as fuel, and returned to water after burning. For the realization of hydrogen energy system, development of efficient and economical hydrogen production methods is required to meet the future huge demand of hydrogen. The Iodine-Sulfur (IS) process is a promising candidate of such hydrogen production methods, in which water reacts with iodine and sulfur dioxide to produce hydrogen iodide and sulfuric acid (Bunsen reaction) and the produced acids are then decomposed to produce hydrogen and oxygen, respectively. This study is concerned with the development of IS process equipment named direct contact sulfuric acid concentrator, in which gaseous mixture produced by thermal decomposition of sulfuric acid contacts directly with sulfuric acid solution. In the concentrator, the high temperature heat of the decomposed gas is recovered and used to concentrate sulfuric acid solution and, at the same time, the undecomposed sulfuric acid is condensed and separated from the decomposition products of sulfur dioxide and oxygen. Although the concept is very attractive from the viewpoint of the development of compact and efficient sulfuric acid concentrator, little is known on the heat and mass transfer relevant to the concentrator. Therefore, experimental methods were discussed to acquire the gas-phase mass transfer coefficient required for the optimal design of the concentrator. Assuming the use of wetted-wall column and also of the sulfuric acid of azeotropic composition as the test solution which could eliminate the liquid-phase mass transfer resistance, the column specification and the measurement conditions were determined by which flooding could be avoided and surface wetting could be assured, as well. (author)