Thermoelectrochemical cyclical process for production of hydrogen and oxygen from water

Claim 1

A process for producing hydrogen and oxygen by a multi-step thermoelectrochemical cyclical process comprising the steps a. reacting water and sulfur dioxide in aqueous sulfuric acid containing 1-5% bromine at 30°-60° C to form an aqueous solution of about 50-90% sulfuric acid and hydrogen bromide; b. removing from the reaction mixture obtained in step (a), a partial flow of 10-20% of said mixture which corresponds to the sulfuric acid formed from the sulfur dioxide in step (a); c. electrolytically decomposing the hydrogen bromide in the remaining portion of the reaction mixture obtained in step (a) into bromine and hydrogen in an electrolytic cell at 60°-100° C; d. removing the hydrogen from the process and recycling the bromine-containing sulfuric acid from the electrolytic cell back into step (a); e. separating hydrogen bromide from the sulfuric acid in the partial flow withdrawn in step (b) and cracking the remaining sulfuric acid into water, sulfur dioxide and oxygen; f. recycling the separated hydrogen bromide and water into the electrolytic cell; g. introducing the mixture of sulfur dioxide and oxygen into process step (a) and thereafter removing the oxygen.