Fossil partial oxidation

Hydrogen production from fossil fuels is based on steam reforming of natural gas, thermal cracking of natmal gas, partial oxidation of heavier than naphtha... 

Small reformers R D areas include compact and low cost reformers (1-5 kW) to convert fossil fuels (natural gas, gasoline) or biomass fuels (ethanol) to hydrogen via different processes (steam reforming, partial oxidation, auto-thermal, non catalytic hybrid steam reforming). Improvements in reformer efficiency, capacities and response times, and integration of purification unit are also being studied. Examples of projects include ... 

Conventional processes for hydrogen production are among major producers of C02 emissions. It has been proposed recently that C02 produced in steam reforming or partial oxidation processes could be captured and sequestrated in the ocean or underground. In our work we estimated that the total energy consumption for C02 sequestration (C02 capture, pressurization, transportation and injection), will most likely exceed 5,000 kJ per kg of sequestrated C02. Since about 80% of world energy production is based on fossil fuels, this could potentially result in the production of 0.20-0.25 kg of C02 per kg of sequestrated C02. 

Figure 10. A comparison of hydrogen to carbon monoxide molar ratios for different processes for producing hydrogen from fossil fuels (POX = partial oxidation ATR = autothermal reforming CR = conventional steam reforming UMR = unmixed reforming).

Humanity s major sources of energy are derived from fossil fuels, principally oil, gas, coal, and wood. The major combustion by-products of fossil fuel burning include sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon dioxide (CO2), and nitric oxide (NO2), and partially oxidized hydrocarbons. The process of burning fossil fuels in thermal power plants, factories, homes, and motor vehicles emits enormous amounts of the aforementioned pollutants. The most important environmental concerns resulting from fossil fuel use are global climate change, acid rain, surface ozone, and partic-ulate-Zaerosol-bound toxins. 

Fossil-fueled vehicles give rise to emissions of unburned fuel and partially oxidized hydrocarbons [102,106]. Prominent are the BTEX suite of aromatics - benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes. These compounds are ubiquitous in the environment, present in essentially every hive atmosphere we test and often among the most prominent peaks in the chromatogram. To date, it has not been possible to position a bee colony that avoids capture of significant amounts of BTEX. We also detect more biorefractive fuel components in hive air - polycyclic aromatics and biphenyls commonly associated with diesel products [114]. Incompletely burned fuel residuals [102] were also evident as noted in the Oxygenates portion of Table 2.5. These comprised aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, and oxides. 

The partial oxidation is another process. In this process, oxygen and heat are added to the fossil basic material, irrespective of whether this is coal, oil or natural gas. The amount of oxygen is tmderstochiometric to avoid an entire combustion. The reaction products are carbon monoxide and hydrogen. A shift reaction produces hydrogen and carbon dioxide from the carbon monoxide. 

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