Industrial Reforming
Steam reforming of natural gas or syngas sometimes referred to as steam methane reforming (SMR) is the most common method of producing commercial bulk hydrogen as well as the hydrogen used in the industrial synthesis of ammonia. It is also the least expensive method. At high temperatures (700 – 1100 °C) and in the presence of a metal-based catalyst (nickel), steam reacts with methane to yield carbon monoxide and hydrogen. These two reactions are reversible in nature.
- CH4 + H2O ⇌ CO + 3 H2
Additional hydrogen can be recovered by a lower-temperature gas-shift reaction with the carbon monoxide produced. The reaction is summarized by:
- CO + H2O → CO2 + H2
The first reaction is strongly endothermic (consumes heat), the second reaction is mildly exothermic (produces heat).
The United States produces nine million tons of hydrogen per year, mostly with steam reforming of natural gas. The worldwide ammonia production, using hydrogen derived from steam reforming, was 109 million metric tonnes in 2004.
This SMR process is quite different from and not to be confused with catalytic reforming of naphtha, an oil refinery process that also produces significant amounts of hydrogen along with high octane gasoline.
The efficiency of the process is approximately 65% to 75%.
Read more about this topic: Steam Reforming
Famous quotes containing the words industrial and/or reforming:
“Coal is a portable climate. It carries the heat of the tropics to Labrador and the polar circle; and it is the means of transporting itself whithersoever it is wanted. Watt and Stephenson whispered in the ear of mankind their secret, that a half-ounce of coal will draw two tons a mile, and coal carries coal, by rail and by boat, to make Canada as warm as Calcutta, and with its comfort brings its industrial power.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The science of constructing a commonwealth, or renovating it, or reforming it, is, like every other experimental science, not to be taught a priori. Nor is it a short experience that can instruct us in that practical science, because the real effects of moral causes are not always immediate.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)