The use of advanced steam reforming technology for hydrogen production

Conference · Sun Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:403519

Abbishaw, J B; Cromarty, B J ^[1]

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1. ICI Katalco, Billingham (United Kingdom)

The demand for supplementary hydrogen production in refineries is growing significantly world-wide as environmental legislation concerning cleaner gasoline and diesel fuels is introduced. The main manufacturing method is by steam reforming. The process has been developed both to reduce the capital cost and increase efficiency, reliability and ease of operation. ICI Katalco`s Leading Concept Hydrogen or LCH process continues this process of improvement by replacing the conventional fired steam reformer with a type of heat exchange reformer known as the Gas Heated Reformer or GHR. The GHR was first used in the Leading Concept Ammonia process, LCA at ICI`s manufacturing site at Severnside, England and commissioned in 1988 and later in the Leading Concept Methanol (LCM) process for methanol at Melbourne, Australia and commissioned in 1994. The development of the LCH process follows on from both LCA and LCM processes. This paper describes the development and use of the GHR in steam reforming, and shows how the GHR can be used in LCH. A comparison between the LCH process and a conventional hydrogen plant is given, showing the benefits of the LCH process in certain circumstances.

• OSTI ID: 403519
• Report Number(s): CONF-960356--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
08 HYDROGEN
AIR POLLUTION
CAPITALIZED COST
DESIGN
FLEXIBILITY
HYDROGEN GENERATORS
HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
OPERATION
PETROLEUM REFINERIES
STEAM REFORMER PROCESSES