Side-fired tubular reformer

Figure 1.4 Side-fired tubular reformer design by Haldor-Topsoe. (Source Dybkjaer [2], Reproduced with permission of Elsevier.)...

Description Natural gas or another hydrocarbon feedstock is compressed (if required), desulfurized, mixed with steam and then converted into synthesis gas. The reforming section comprises a prereformer (optional, but gives particular benefits when the feedstock is higher hydrocarbons or naphtha), a fired tubular reformer and a secondary reformer, where process air is added. The amount of air is adjusted to obtain an H2/N2 ratio of 3.0 as required by the ammonia synthesis reaction. The tubular steam reformer is Topsoe s proprietary side-wall-fired design. After the reforming section, the synthesis gas undergoes high- and low-temperature shift conversion, carbon dioxide removal and methanation. 

Figure 3.13 below shows on the left the sidewall-fired tubular reformer seen from the end wall. The right figure shows ignited burners on the wall to the left and catalyst tubes on the right side. 

The steam reformer is a large process furnace in which catalyst-filled tubes are heated externally by direet firing to provide the necessary heat for the reactions taking place inside the reformer tubes. In methanol service, fired tubular reformers typicalfy come in two principal types downfired and side-fired. 

The shell/tube configuration of tubular PBRs depends on the nature of the catalytic reaction. For highly endothermic reactions such as catalytic steam reforming, the reactor geometry is similar to that of a fired furnace in which the catalyst-packed tubes are heated by the energy released by the combustion of a fuel on the shell side. Catalytic steam reforming involves the conversion of a hydrocarbon to a hydrogen-rich mixture in the presence of steam ... 

The Primary Reformer is a steam-hydrocarbon reforming tubular furnace that is typically externally fired at 25 to 35 bar and 780°C to 820°C on the process side. The reformer tubes function under an external heat flux of 75,000 W/m2 and are subject to carburization, oxidation, over-heating, stress-corrosion cracking (SCC), sulfidation and thermal cycling. Previously SS 304, SS 310 and SS 347 were used as tube materials. However these materials developed cracks that very frequently led to premature tube failures (see Table 5.10)88. 

The primary reformer is a steam-hydrocarbon reforming tubular furnace that is typically externally fired at 25 to 35 bar and 780°C to 820°C on the process side. From the 1950s through the 1960s SS 304, SS 310, SS 347,... 

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