Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of matter (solid, liquid and gas being the other three). Plasma can be artificially generated by heating or subjecting a neutral gas to a strong electromagnetic field to the point where an ionized gaseous substance becomes increasingly electrically conductive, and long-range electromagnetic fields dominate the behavior of the matter. Plasma and ionized gases have properties and display behaviors unlike those of the other states. Plasmas can be created using thermal discharges, e.g., arcs, microwave and radio-frequency discharges, and cold discharges, e.g., dielectric barrier discharges, and corona, among other methods. The challenge is to link a suitable discharge with an engineering solution that creates the desired output. Plasma dissociation of H2S, which produces liquid sulfur (S) and hydrogen (H2), has been known since the early 1980’s. To make a plasma process commercially feasible, it must be energy efficient for its scale of use. Initial development efforts centered around refinery scale solutions, which, unfortunately, were not successful. Despite preliminary evaluations (e.g., the attached presentation made by the Argonne National Laboratory scientists) indicating favorable economics, most programs were abandoned. Red Shift found that its novel engineering solution for plasma dissociation of H2S can find its wide niche application in unconventional natural and associated gas production. Preliminary evaluations show that the plasma dissociation of H2S can be competitive with the scavenger technology at any reasonable level of energy efficiency and at a scale that the plasma technologies were tested earlier.
