Optimal Design of Acid Gas-to-Syngas (AG2S) Technology: Process Optimization and Surrogate Modeling

The management of acid gases (i.e., H₂S and CO₂) is a fundamental requirement in process plants, such as refineries. Current strategies typically do not exploit the hydrogen content in hydrogen sulfide, which is usually burned. The acid gas-to-syngas (AG2S) technology represents an innovative approach for converting a mixture of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) into syngas (H₂ and CO), with potential applications in fuels and chemical synthesis. This work investigates the optimal process design of AG2S in terms of the H₂S/CO₂ and H₂S/O₂ feed molar ratios to maximize syngas production. The study combines detailed kinetic and thermodynamic modeling to obtain a comprehensive process simulation, which serves as the basis for generating accurate surrogate models trained on flowsheet simulation data via a design of experiments (DoE) approach. These models allow for a reliable prediction of H₂S conversion, syngas flow rate, H₂/CO ratio, and selectivity. The results highlight limitations imposed by relatively low H₂/CO ratios for downstream applications and illustrate the trade-off between syngas quality and quantity.