Patent ID: 6090312
Filing Date: 2000-07-18
Classification: C01B,C07C,H01M,Y02E,Y02P,Y02T

Abstract:
A process that reforms a hydrocarbon with steam (H.sub.2 O(g)) over a bed of metallic catalyst in a steam reforming reactor to produce H.sub.2, CO.sub.2 and CO by the hydrocarbon steam reforming and water gas shift reactions, with the exit stream to be passed through a heat exchanger to reduce its temperature and condense the unreacted steam by generating new steam in other side of the exchanger to be used as feed into this reforming reactor and any subsequently placed reformer, with the remaining gas mixture to remove moisture traces by passage through a bed of moisture adsorbing particles, with the dry cooled exit mixture from the particle bed to enter into a membrane permeator made by one of the following materials,organic polymer membrane,organic polymer membrane-inorganic support,inorganic membrane,which all materials are permselective to H.sub.2 and CO.sub.2 and separate these two species from the unreacted hydrocarbon and CO, with these last non-permeating compounds to exit from the non-permeate side of the permeator as a reject stream, with the H.sub.2 and CO.sub.2 permeate product mixture to be used forchemical synthesis andas fuel either as is a mixture or as pure H.sub.2 after the CO.sub.2 condensation and removal.