Steam hydrocarbon reforming development

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 steam-hydrocarbon reforming process is highly developed and will operate for months or even years without interruption, except for normal outages scheduled for boiler inspection, routine maintenance, and other attention which is placed on a definable schedule. The heat balance and utilization are well engineered ordinarily so that there is little waste, and what heat is unused on the furnace side of the reformer is subsequently recovered for use to generate steam. 

Recatro A process for making gas from liquid fuels and other gaseous hydrocarbons by catalytic conversion into rich gas, followed by catalytic steam reforming. Developed by BASF and Lurgi. 

RKN A process for making hydrogen from hydrocarbon gases (from natural gas to naphtha) by steam reforming. Developed by Haldor Topsoe in the 1960s as of 1975, 24 plants were operating. 

STAR [STeam Active Reforming] A catalytic reforming process for converting aliphatic hydrocarbons to olefins or aromatic hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons containing five or fewer carbon atoms are converted to olefins. Those containing six or more are dehydrocyclized to aromatic hydrocarbons. The reactions take place in the vapor phase, in a fixed catalyst bed, in the presence of steam. The catalyst is platinum/tin alloy on zinc calcium aluminate. Developed by Phillips Petroleum Company. The first commercial plant was built for Coastal Chemicals in Cheyenne, WY, in 1992 another was built for Polibutenos Argentinos in 1996. The process is now offered by Uhde. 

Hydrocarbon Research Inc., elected partial oxidation for the Carthage Hydrocol plant at Brownsville. After initial experiments that Hydrocarbon Research conducted at Olean, New York, The Texas Company assumed responsibility for further development of partial oxidation at its Montebello, California, laboratory, under duBois ( Dubie ) Eastman. For conversion of natural gas to gasoline by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, partial oxidation s advantage over steam-methane reforming lay in its ability to operate at a pressure approximating that of the synthesis, thereby essentially eliminating need for compression of synthesis gas. 

In Table 2, the nuclear electricity generation is now commercially conducted, and nuclear hydrogen production is now under research and development. As for the nuclear hydrocarbon production, a nuclear synthetic methane recycling process is being developed by the Tokyo Institute of Technology for on-board steam-methane reforming with calcium oxide for CO2 sorption (Ref. 5). 

Steam methane reforming (SMR) is the conventionally used process for converting natural gas and other hydrocarbons into syngas.1,2 SMR has been used for several decades as the chief method for hydrogen production since it was first developed in 1926. Owing to its importance, substantial improvements have been introduced over the years and research into catalysts, reactor materials, fluid dynamics and heat transport still continues. SMR takes place over a nickel catalyst according to the reaction ... 

Reforming of Various Feedstocks. When the catalyst developed proved to be capable of reforming pure hexane successfully at low steam-hydrocarbon ratios, we decided to test various feedstocks having a range of molecular weights and various types of hydrocarbons. The first tests were conducted with octane and benzene to show whether... 

HTS catalyst consists mainly of magnetite crystals stabilized using chromium oxide. Phosphoms, arsenic, and sulfur are poisons to the catalyst. Low reformer steam to carbon ratios give rise to conditions favoring the formation of iron carbides which catalyze the synthesis of hydrocarbons by the Fisher-Tropsch reaction. Modified iron and iron-free HTS catalysts have been developed to avoid these problems (49,50) and allow operation at steam to carbon ratios as low as 2.7. Kinetic and equiUbrium data for the water gas shift reaction are available in reference 51. 

Steam reforming was developed in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century, to produce hydrogen for ammonia synthesis, and was further introduced in the 1930s when natural gas and other hydrocarbon feedstocks such as naphtha became available on a large scale. 

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