Hydrogen sulphide in the black sea – an alternative new energy source for the local countries : based on the renewable energy for transport research made for the Bulgarian seacoast municipality of burgas

Abstract

The author has divided his master thesis into two parts. In the first part is carried out an analytical and comparative research of three possible renewable energy sources (RES) for transport in the city of Burgas, a municipality on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. Biomass, photovoltaic and wind power plants are analyzed and compared from the economic, energetic and ecological perspectives. Some innovations of the Vienna University of Technology are shortly mentioned in this connection. Based on the obtained results, in the second part of the work is presented the big potential of an innovative technology for utilization of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) from the Black Sea waters as a new energy source for electricity generation and production of hydrogen. The positive side effect of this innovation is cleaning of the seawater from the poisonous substance. A team of researchers from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences led by Prof. Venko Beschkov, with the financial support from the BS–ERA.NET program, organized by the European Commission, successfully realized his idea of directly converting of the energy stored in the H2S into electricity. The innovation, born after many years of scientific research and experimental development work, called Sulphide Driven Fuel Cell (SDFC), uses seawater containing H2S as a fuel in an efficient and ecological way. The innovations, the progress of research and its realization made by the Bulgarian scientists as well as the future works and perspectives in this area are presented and analyzed in the second part of this thesis.