Mitigating Carbon Dioxide Impact of Industrial Steam Methane Reformers by Acid Gas to Syngas Technology: Technical and Environmental Feasibility

Abstract

The aim of this work is to evaluate the potential application of a new sustainable technology, called Acid Gas to Syngas, on steam reforming process in order to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions. Indeed, steam reforming has high emissions of carbon dioxide, at almost 7 kg of carbon dioxide per 1 kg of hydrogen produced. The key idea of the new technology is to convert carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide coming from natural gas desulfurization into additional hydrogen. Coupling different software, i.e. Aspen HYSYS and MATLAB, a complete plant model, able to manage the recycle of unconverted acid gases, has been developed. The importance of introduced innovations is highlighted and a comparison between the old process and the new one with Acid Gas to Syngas technology is built up. With Acid Gas to Syngas technology the natural gas consumption and carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced up to 3%.

Aprioristic Integration of Process Operations and Risk Analysis: Definition of the Weighted F&EI-Based Concept and Application to AG2S Technology

“…The variation of the inlet feed temperature can be easily handled by reducing or increasing the heat (or the steam) required for the preheating phase (Figure ), while variation of the pressure, in particular an increase in pressure, can only be handled by a reduction in pressure of the acid gas before it enters the process. Indeed, the pressures involved in the AG2S process are similar to the ones of the traditional Claus process, i.e., just above atmospheric pressure . Clearly, if higher pressures were to be considered, the process, with particular reference to the equipment, has to be redesigned in order to withstand higher pressures.…”

Mitigating carbon dioxide impact of fossil/bio-refineries by Acid Gas to Syngas technology: sensitivity analysis and techno-economic assessment

“…As mention the aim of this process is to recover as much as possible hydrogen from the H2S molecule, in order to be able to produce a huge amount of syngas. In order to allow the pyrolysis of H2S high temperatures (1273 -1473 K) [26] are necessary to (i) activate the reactive system from chemical-thermodynamics standpoint, (ii) quicken kinetics and (iii) reduce by-products.…”

Recent Advances in Alkaline Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis and Electrode Manufacturing

“…Currently, the global demand for hydrogen is 70 Mt H2 per year (International Energy Agency) from which most production relies on the steam-methane (or other hydrocarbons) reforming. This procedure is responsible for emitting a minimum of 7 kg of CO 2 per kg of H 2, an unmanageable figure in the quest for an effective reduction of carbon dioxide emissions [4,5]. For this reason, alternative hydrogen production processes using environmentally friendly routes with no waste emissions to the atmosphere constitute an urgent and unavoidable requirement.…”