Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.

Miguel Rafael Alvarez

Howard C Rowles

Donald W Woodward

Eugene S Genkin

Harvey L Vines

Vladimir Yliy Gershtein

Stephen P DiMartino, Sr

David Anthony Zagnoli

Nitin Madhubhai Patel

Christopher Francis Harris

Gregory David Snyder

Jacob M Geist

Stephen Paul Dimartino

A process and apparatus for producing a hydrogen-containing gas in a reformer where a furnace, which is independent of the reformer, heats the effluent from a prereformer prior to reacting the prereformer effluent in the reformer. The prereformer effluent may be heated in a heat exchange tube in the furnace where the heat exchange tube is positioned in the furnace to preclude direct radiation from any flames in the furnace thereby preventing local overheating of the heat exchange tube and preventing carbon formation in the heat exchange tube. Fuel and oxidant gas may be introduced into the furnace with significant excess oxidant gas, having a stoichiometric ratio of 1.8 to 2.8 for controlling the temperature of the heat exchange tube.

Method and apparatus for producing a hydrogen-containing gas

A method for generating hydrogen and/or synthesis gas in a production facility where little or no export steam is produced. Most or all of the high pressure steam produced from the waste heat from the process is used in the steam-hydrocarbon reformer with little or no steam export. The method uses oxygen enhanced combustion which may involve oxygen lancing and/or oxygen-enrichment. Plant efficiencies using the method and prior art-type methods are compared.

Steam-hydrocarbon reforming method with limited steam export

A method is disclosed for cooling, condensing and subcooling a substantially single component gas stream by passing the gas stream through a heat exchange relationship with a vaporizing multicomponent stream so that carry-up of the condensed liquid phase is maintained without condensed phase backmixing and pot-boiling of the coolant stream is avoided. The single component gas stream is passed through a cold-end up heat exchanger having a serpentine pathway for the gas stream comprising a series of horizontal passes separated by horizontal dividers and alternatingly connected by turnaround passes at each end. The method is particularly applicable to the condensing of a recycle methane stream in a nitrogen rejection process which uses a methane heat pump cycle to provide refrigeration.

Process using serpentine heat exchange relationship for condensing

A method is disclosed for cooling a multicomponent gas stream containing variable amounts of the components by passing the gas stream through a heat exchange relationship with a fluid coolant stream so that carry-up of the condensed phase is maintained without condensed phase backmixing over the compositional range of the multicomponent gas stream. The gas stream is cooled by passing it through a cold-end up heat exchanger having a serpentine pathway for the multicomponent gas stream comprising a series of horizontal passes separated by horizontal dividers and alternatingly connected by turnaround passes at each end, the cross-sectional area of at least one horizontal pass nearer the cold-end being less than the cross-sectional area of a horizontal pass nearer the warm-end. The method is particularly applicable to cooling a natural gas feed stream having a variable nitrogen content in a nitrogen rejection process.

Nitrogen rejection process incorporating a serpentine heat exchanger

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Whitehall, PA, United States of America

Miguel Rafael Alvarez