Table : Four-step chemical reaction pathway for producing H 2 gas and char from biomass, using cellulose as an example organic molecule. Delta G values are calculated for 300 K and 1 atm using data from the JANAF-NIST tables: Step In the first step of the cycle, molten or gaseous S is used to dehydrogenate and gasify organic feedstocks such as hydrocarbons or carbohydrates to yield H 2 S and char. This process, which we denote as "sulfur reforming" will generate C and CS 2 in relative amounts that depend on reaction conditions according to example reactions 1a -1d in table . The rate of reaction to form CS 2 in step 1 is negligible below 450 °C and is highly dependent on the form of carbon species reacting. . While cellulose, more so than methane, accurately reflects MSW feedstock, at the temperature required, cellulose decomposes into multiple simpler molecules such as CH 4 , H 2 O, and CO. Among alkanes, methane is the most thermodynamically difficult to dehydrogenate and requires more severe conditions to react with sulfur. Therefore, in the analysis presented here, we use methane as a model for thermodynamic calculations with the recognition that other hydrocarbons will yield even more favorable thermodynamics.