Natural gas reforming processes

Interaction of methane with steam on a nickel surface is the basis of the natural gas reforming process. The process is used as a source of hydrogen for ammonia production and methanol synthesis and, therefore, finds a large-scale industrial application. 

Established Methods Electrolysis. Apart from the natural gas reforming processes, electrolysis of water is the most widely used method for hydrogen production. To electrolyse water, the minimum electrical energy required is determined by the free energy change of the underlying reaction ... 

Fig. 13.1 Hydrogen in the energy system of the futine [1]. Pie-c

Dalle Nogare D., Baggio R, Thomas C., Mutri L. and Canu R, (2007), A thermodynamic analysis of natural gas reforming processes for fuel cell application , Chem. Eng. Set, 62,5418-5424. 

Na.tura.1 Ga.s Reforma.tion. In the United States, most hydrogen is presently produced by natural gas reformation or methane—steam reforming. In this process, methane mixed with steam is typically passed over a nickel oxide catalyst at an elevated temperature. The reforming reaction is... 

Hydrogen occurs naturally in the form of chemical compounds, most frequently in water and hydrocarbons. Hydrogen can be produced from fossil fuels, nuclear and renewable energy sources by a number of processes, such as natural gas reforming,... 

Steam-methane reforming is considered an efficient way to get hydrogen from a hydrogen compound. This process has been used by the oil refinery and chemical industries for many years. Currently, there is a plentiful supply of natural gas in the United States and Canada (although that may not be true in the future). This also means a plentiful supply of methane. The pipelines needed to deliver the natural gas to processing plants are already in place. This saves time and money because many new delivery structures do not have to be built. 

By far the most widespread method of producing synthesis gas for methanol production today is via steam reforming of naphtha and lighter hydrocarbons. The process routes for both natural gas steam reforming and naphtha reforming are virtually identical, so we shall consider only natural gas reforming. Since the ICI LP methanol process was... 

Brief Process Description of Davy s Latest High Efficiency Design. Natural gas is desulfurized over an activated carbon bed or zinc oxide to remove sulfur below 0.2 ppm, suitable for natural gas reforming. 

Figure 105. Modern integrated single-train ammonia plant based on steam reforming of natural gas (Clide process) a) Sulfur removal b) Primary reformer c) Steam superheater d) Secondary reformer e) Waste heat boiler f) Convection section g) Forced draft fan h) Induced draft fan i) Stack k) TIT and LT shift converters ...

While natural gas reforming is the primary process for the industrial production of H2, the reforming of other gaseous hydrocarbons such as ethane, propane, and n-butane have been explored for the production of H2 for fuel cells.52,97 The reforming of propane and n-butane received particular attention in recent years, because they are the primary constituents of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which is available commercially and can be easily transported and stored on-site. LPG could be an attractive fuel for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and PEMFCs for mobile applications.98 01 The chemistry, thermodynamics, catalysts, kinetics, and reaction mechanism involved in the reforming of C2-C4 hydrocarbons are briefly discussed in this section. 

The major sorbents reported for high or mild temperature desulfurization of the raw syngas are the solid metal oxides. Metal oxides, such as ZnO, MnO, Zn Ti O, Cu-Zn I i O, Co Fc O, Ce02, and La203, have been reported to remove H2S from nature gas, reformate, and other gas mixtures.4 113 174 178 180 The process is based on the reaction of the metal oxides with H2S to form metal sulfides. For ZnO sorbent, the reaction is shown below ... 

Tmp grease" was also evaluated as a low-cost feedstock for hydrogen production, via catalytic steam reforming. The suitable process conditions are similar to those for natural gas reforming. At 850°C,... 

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