(319d) Compact Flex-Fuel Processors for Syngas and Hydrogen Production

Precision Combustion, Inc. (PCI) has developed a novel reactor and process for low carbon intensity blue-hydrogen (H₂) production from natural gas (NG) capable of operating with high efficiency (HHV basis). The design is based on PCI’s short contact time Microlith^® catalyst. Both oxygen- and air-blown systems with integrated steam generation were examined. Key goals were to achieve high energy efficiency with CO2 capture. A process-intensified, simple reactor that minimizes external heat input and with internal steam generation was designed, fabricated, and tested. A core innovation was PCI’s catalyst technology for coating nano-powder catalysts on unique Microlith short contact time, high surface area substrates, enabling several advantages notably small size, rapid transient response, high selectivity and efficiency, and robust operation. An extremely compact reforming catalyst substrate reforms NG into a mixture of H₂ and CO. The catalyst and reformer technology, in combination with process intensification of heat exchangers, permits extremely compact system footprint. This leads to significant reduction in CAPEX and OPEX compared to traditional steam methane reforming (SMR) with post combustion carbon capture. Higher system efficiency of the proposed process lends to reduction in the amount of CO₂ produced per unit of H₂ generated to further reduce carbon capture costs. We will report data from sub-scale and pilot testing and compare results with equilibrium predictions as well as metrics from state of the art commercial H₂ generation via steam methane reforming.