TECHNOLOGY

Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of matter, and was first described by chemist Irving Langmuir in the 1920s. 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, and the transition between them is mostly a matter of nomenclature and subject to interpretation. Based on the surrounding environmental temperature and density, partially ionized or fully ionized forms of plasma may be produced. Neon signs and lightning are examples of partially ionized plasma.

The Earth's ionosphere is a plasma and the magnetosphere contains plasma in the Earth's surrounding space environment. The interior of the Sun is an example of fully ionized plasma, along with the solar corona and other stars. Positive charges in ions are achieved by stripping away electrons orbiting the atomic nuclei, where the total number of electrons removed is related to either increasing temperature or the local density of other ionized matter. This also can be accompanied by the dissociation of molecular bonds, though this process is distinctly different from chemical processes of ion interactions in liquids or the behavior of shared ions in metals. The response of plasma to electromagnetic fields is useful in many modern technological devices, such as plasma televisions or plasma etching.​

In USA tight oil production, H₂S remediation begins at the wellhead, where associated gas is released from the well, captured, processed and fed into pipelines for transmission to natural gas processing centers. Maximum allowable H₂S content of the gas fed into transmission systems is 2 ppm. This limitation poses a challenge to wells that contain high levels of H₂S. There are two technologies that are in common use at the wellhead: adsorbers, such as Schlumberger’s ferric oxide granules in lead/lag cylinders, and absorbers, such as the Ecolab Ultrafab® system that utilizes a liquid triazine scavenger. Adsorbers have high capital expenditures (capex) and high operating expense (opex), require significant maintenance, and have pressure/heat parameters that limit its suitability. Absorbers, have moderate capex, high opex, moderate maintenance requirements, but have disposal and logistical issues, and cannot operate in temperatures below 8°C. These systems also are limited in economics (in the USA) to less than 0.2% H₂S content. Large scale H₂S removal/disposition can be achieved using amine-based absorber systems combined with the Claus system, which converts H₂S into sulfur and water. Amine solvent systems have high capex, moderate opex, but only capture the H₂S, and the resultant gas must be neutralized. Refineries use Claus sulfur recovery systems, which have very high capex and high maintenance costs. Claus systems are not economical below the refinery scale level.

Red Shift will engineer solutions for remediating H₂S at multiple scales, from small scale suitable for deployment at the wellhead up to refinery scale solutions that will replace Claus systems. The technology will progress by proving at the small scale and then engineering larger scale designs.

Red Shift has made the breakthrough in the development of the technology by solving the most important problems for “warm” thermal plasmas:

1. Stable arc was created which operates at high concentrations of H₂S at various pressures
2. The designed plasma system demonstrated the required degree of durability for the laboratory stage of development
3. The H₂S dissociation system uses, patented novel high voltage low current plasmatron.
   • This allows for high efficiency with low energy consumption, thus low carbon footprint.
   • There is a recycling feature which improves efficiency and total conversion.
   • Our technology is scalable to be sized to the relative magnitude of the H₂S present in situ.