(126e) Investigation of the Reactive Distillation Separation for Hi-I2-H2 in the S-I Process for Thermochemical Hydrogen Production

Investigation has been made of the consequences of changing conditions and configurations of the reactive distillation column proposed for obtaining hydrogen and recycle iodine from feed hydriodic acid in section III of the sulfur-iodine process for thermochemical decomposition of water. Current designs involve degrading considerable amounts of energy for the reboiler and condenser, impacting the overall process efficiency. This analysis should be useful for the selection and design of the optimum process for this vital part of the system.

The presentation describes the results of systematic studies involving changes in column pressure, reflux ratio, feed plate location, etc., with implications for more effective optimization of the column. In addition, examination has been made of the sensitivity of the results to property modeling and, especially, to the impact of the conditions where multiple liquid phases appear under certain conditions, as indicated by newly measured data.