Natural near field sinks of hydrogen sulfide from two geothermal power plants in Iceland

Abstract

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) emissions have been growing with the increasing utilization of geothermal resources. Atmospheric H2S concentration has been measured and studied but less is known about the natural sinks of the chemical. This study investigates the atmospheric depletion of H2S within a 35 km distance from two Icelandic power plants. The results showed that atmospheric oxidation by the OH radical was the largest sink in the area. The second largest sink was H2S uptake in surface water, in a neighboring lake, but it was, however, small compared to the reported difference of sulfur amount in the lake in- and outflow. Sulfur was found to accumulate in moss close to the power plants at a maximum rate of about 1500 mg S/kg moss per year and decreased exponentially from the source, being negligible at a distance of a few kilometers. Soil uptake was limited by diffusion of H2S into the porous media and was thus much smaller than the estimated soil uptake potential. Washout with precipitation was estimated to be the smallest sink due to the low H2S reactivity in the precipitation (pH = 5.6), compared to the surface water (pH ∼8). Depletion of H2S from the atmosphere in the study area was estimated to be about 1.2% of the 2012 power plants emissions of over 20,000 tons. Although the uncertainties in the depletion estimates were considerable, most of the H2S emitted from the power plants was strongly indicated to be transported out of the study area as H2S.