Evaluation and Characterization of Membranes for H2SO4/Water and I2/HI/H2O Water Separation and Hydrogen Permeation for the S-I Cycle

Abstract

In this report are the findings into three membrane separation studies for potential application to the Sulfur-Iodine (S-I) thermochemical cycle. The first is the removal of water from hydriodic acid/iodine mixtures. In the S-I cycle, iodine is added to the product of the Bunsen reaction to facilitate the separation of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) from hydriodic acid (HI). The amount of iodine can be as high as 83% of the overall mass load of the Bunsen product stream, which potentially introduces a large burden on the cycle’s efficiency. Removal of water from the HI and iodine mixture would substantially reduce the amount of required additional iodine. In this work, performance data for Nafion® and sulfonated poly (ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) membranes is shown.