the day-to-day hydrogen system, but the planning organization should include the
hydrogen system in their process using the refinery LP or another model to avoid
arriving at an infeasible plan.
Concluding Remarks
The production and use of hydrogen in a refinery is becoming increasingly important as refined product specifications drive toward zero sulfur, high H/C ratio fuels
of all boiling ranges. There are several options for providing hydrogen to a refinery.
Many of these have been discussed in this section. This is, by no means, all
inclusive, however. Many variations exist among facilities and new options for
production or recovery of hydrogen continue to grow.
Appendix Example SMR Hydrogen Plant Material Balance
and Monitoring Parameters Development
To calculate the key monitoring parameters for an SMR plant, consider the following example that is typical of the sort of calculations needed. This example is for an
SMR feeding natural gas plus refinery saturated off-gas that has been scrubbed free
of sulfur (for simplicity). Hydrogen purification is by PSA unit. The plant only has
high-temperature shift.
The objectives are to calculate:
• Material balance around the reforming furnace, shift converter, and PSA
• Approach to equilibrium in reformer
• Approach to equilibrium in shift converter
• PSA recovery efficiency
• Shift condensate rate
• Normalized reformer pressure drop
• Actual steam/carbon ratio
The following data are given:
Flow rates
• Sweet feed gas = 6.87 MMscfd
• Product hydrogen (99.9999 % H2) = 20.6 MMscfd
• Raw hydrogen to the PSA = 31.8 MMscfd
• Process steam rate = 66,500 lbs/h
Temperatures
• Reformer outlet temperature = 1,500
F
• HTSC outlet temperature = 810
F
Pressures
• Reformer inlet = 315 psig
Hydrogen Production and Management for Petroleum Processing
639
hydrogen system in their process using the refinery LP or another model to avoid
arriving at an infeasible plan.
Concluding Remarks
The production and use of hydrogen in a refinery is becoming increasingly important as refined product specifications drive toward zero sulfur, high H/C ratio fuels
of all boiling ranges. There are several options for providing hydrogen to a refinery.
Many of these have been discussed in this section. This is, by no means, all
inclusive, however. Many variations exist among facilities and new options for
production or recovery of hydrogen continue to grow.
Appendix Example SMR Hydrogen Plant Material Balance
and Monitoring Parameters Development
To calculate the key monitoring parameters for an SMR plant, consider the following example that is typical of the sort of calculations needed. This example is for an
SMR feeding natural gas plus refinery saturated off-gas that has been scrubbed free
of sulfur (for simplicity). Hydrogen purification is by PSA unit. The plant only has
high-temperature shift.
The objectives are to calculate:
• Material balance around the reforming furnace, shift converter, and PSA
• Approach to equilibrium in reformer
• Approach to equilibrium in shift converter
• PSA recovery efficiency
• Shift condensate rate
• Normalized reformer pressure drop
• Actual steam/carbon ratio
The following data are given:
Flow rates
• Sweet feed gas = 6.87 MMscfd
• Product hydrogen (99.9999 % H2) = 20.6 MMscfd
• Raw hydrogen to the PSA = 31.8 MMscfd
• Process steam rate = 66,500 lbs/h
Temperatures
• Reformer outlet temperature = 1,500
F
• HTSC outlet temperature = 810
F
Pressures
• Reformer inlet = 315 psig
Hydrogen Production and Management for Petroleum Processing
639