We will look at each of these processes in turn and provide references for
additional information.
Recovery Processes
The recovery processes for hydrogen can apply to several of the production
technologies. We will discuss the three most common recovery processes employed
in refineries:
• Pressure swing adsorption
• Membranes
• Cryogenic recovery
Management
All the incremental hydrogen in the world is not helpful if it is poorly managed.
Poorly managed hydrogen ultimately ends up getting burned in most refineries, and
this is a waste. We will discuss some approaches to ensure that hydrogen is not
wasted to fuel or flare.
Catalytic Reforming of Naphtha
Discussion
Production of hydrogen as a by-product of catalytic naphtha reforming is very
common. This provides a large piece of the hydrogen supply in a refinery.
Semi-regenerative reformers can typically make about 1,000 scf of hydrogen per
barrel of reformer charge, while continuous reformers can make around 1,700 scf of
hydrogen per barrel charge. Cyclic reformers operate between.
Process details for naphtha reforming are in the chapter entitled “▶ Catalytic
Reforming in Petroleum Processing” of this handbook. We will focus here on the
hydrogen quality produced by the naphtha reformer and its implications in
hydroprocessing.
Reformer Hydrogen Properties
Reformer hydrogen composition can vary widely as shown in Table 1. Hydrogen
from a continuous reformer (CCR) will have a relatively constant composition,
while hydrogen from a semi-regen unit will vary from start of run (just after
regeneration) to end of run (just before regeneration). A cyclic reformer’s hydrogen
568
S.A. Treese
additional information.
Recovery Processes
The recovery processes for hydrogen can apply to several of the production
technologies. We will discuss the three most common recovery processes employed
in refineries:
• Pressure swing adsorption
• Membranes
• Cryogenic recovery
Management
All the incremental hydrogen in the world is not helpful if it is poorly managed.
Poorly managed hydrogen ultimately ends up getting burned in most refineries, and
this is a waste. We will discuss some approaches to ensure that hydrogen is not
wasted to fuel or flare.
Catalytic Reforming of Naphtha
Discussion
Production of hydrogen as a by-product of catalytic naphtha reforming is very
common. This provides a large piece of the hydrogen supply in a refinery.
Semi-regenerative reformers can typically make about 1,000 scf of hydrogen per
barrel of reformer charge, while continuous reformers can make around 1,700 scf of
hydrogen per barrel charge. Cyclic reformers operate between.
Process details for naphtha reforming are in the chapter entitled “▶ Catalytic
Reforming in Petroleum Processing” of this handbook. We will focus here on the
hydrogen quality produced by the naphtha reformer and its implications in
hydroprocessing.
Reformer Hydrogen Properties
Reformer hydrogen composition can vary widely as shown in Table 1. Hydrogen
from a continuous reformer (CCR) will have a relatively constant composition,
while hydrogen from a semi-regen unit will vary from start of run (just after
regeneration) to end of run (just before regeneration). A cyclic reformer’s hydrogen
568
S.A. Treese