According to industry research institute data, natural gas hydrogen production process currently occupies the first place in the world hydrogen production market. The proportion of hydrogen production from natural gas in China ranks second, after that from coal. Hydrogen production from natural gas in China began in the 1970s, mainly providing hydrogen for ammonia synthesis. With the improvement of catalyst quality, process flow, control level, equipment form and structure optimization, the reliability and safety of natural gas hydrogen production process have been guaranteed.
Natural gas hydrogen production process mainly includes four steps: raw gas pretreatment, natural gas steam reforming, carbon monoxide shift, hydrogen purification.
The first step is raw material pretreatment, which mainly refers to raw gas desulfurization, the actual process operation generally uses cobalt molybdenum hydrogenation series zinc oxide as a desulfurizer to convert organic sulfur in natural gas into inorganic sulfur and then remove it.
The second step is the steam reforming of natural gas, which uses nickel catalyst in the reformer to convert the alkanes in natural gas into feedstock gas whose main components are carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
The third step is carbon monoxide shift. It reacts with water vapor in the presence of a catalyst, thereby generating hydrogen and carbon dioxide, and obtaining a shift gas that is mainly composed of hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
The last step is to purify hydrogen, now the most commonly used hydrogen purification system is the pressure swing adsorption (PSA) purification separation system. This system has the characteristics of low energy consumption, simple process and high purity of hydrogen.
Hydrogen production from natural gas has the advantages of large hydrogen production scale and mature technology, and is the main source of hydrogen at present. Although natural gas is also a fossil fuel and produces greenhouse gases in the production of blue hydrogen, but because of the use of advanced technologies such as carbon capture, utilization and Storage (CCUS), it has reduced the impact on the Earth's environment by capturing greenhouse gases and achieving low-emission production.
Post time: Jul-27-2023
