Hydrogen Sulfide

During the last and what appears to be the final meeting held by the Department of Environmental Quality to allow Environmental Disposal Systems (EDS) of Birmingham to operate a high pressure injection toxic waste well in the center of Romulus, within a half mile of the International Airport, I-94, hospitals, schools, homes, east-west corridor of a major rail link to Chicago, New York and Canada and operating gas wells and caverns of the Sun Oil Company, one of the members of the delegation from the DEQ stated that the water in the area was tainted with hydrogen sulfide.
Hydrogen Sulfide.
The source of ‘rotten eggs’ odor in some water supplies.
Hydrogen sulfide occurs in natural gas fields sometimes at concentrations of up to forty percent. When hydrogen sulfide levels are this high in natural gas wells the well is referred to as a ‘sour gas well’.
Hydrogen Sulfide will burn when ignited. A common method for destroying of this ‘waste product’ in the natural gas industry has been to burn it off. Burning the hydrogen sulfide is 99.5 percent efficient but the smell and danger from the gas is still present.
KCS Energy in Michigan, and other energy producers inject this secondary gas back into the earth rather than burn it. This solution is considered to be environmentally friendly by the Environmental Protection Agency which permits and charges for the right to build and operate an injection well under the Underground Injection Control Program.
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/uic.html
The problem with disposing of the hydrogen sulfide gas which sometimes makes up nearly half of the volume of extracted material from producing wells and is found in great abundance in areas far from oil and gas production areas is that a cheap fuel is being destroyed.
Extraction of pure hydrogen from hydrogen sulfide is cheaper than methods now being publicized by the Department of Energy which include :
Thermochemical - a steam reforming process used to produce hydrogen from others fuels such as natural gas, coal, methanol or gasoline.
Electrochemical - the electrolysis of water produces hydrogen by passing an electrical current through it.
Photoelectrochemical - the photoelectrochemical (PEC) process produces hydrogen in one step, splitting water by illuminating a water-immersed semiconductor with sunlight.
Photobiological - Photobiological systems generally use the natural photosynthetic activity of bacteria and green algae to produce hydrogen.
Hydrogen sulfide itself is common and cheap to produce. Often it occurs in areas where natural gas, oil or coal are not present. When natural gas, oil and coal are present hydrogen sulfide is present in such quantities that it must be either burned off or injected into the earth. The energy potential of the hydrogen sulfide is often greater than the materials with which it is found. Thus making natural gas, petroleum and coal unwanted by products.
Hydrogen sulfide is produced by the decomposition of sewage and occurs in great abundance as a result of landfill operations.
Energy independence is available to the United States at the present moment and a valuable natural resource is being mishandled by an outdated energy industry that is resistant to change.
Introduction of this component as a fuel would cause natural gas, coal and petroleum prices to tumble while allowing a cheap source of hydrogen to immediately become available. Fuel cells would then become irrelevant as no radical change in technology would be necessary on the part of automakers as the internal combustion engine would continue to serve as an adequate source of power for personal transportation.