Patent ID: 6051162
Filing Date: 2000-04-18
Classification: C21D

Abstract:
A process for maintaining a protective atmosphere in a thermal treatment process comprising:(a) generating a first reaction product mixture comprising hydrocarbons having two or three carbons, carbon monoxide and hydrogen by reacting a gaseous hydrocarbon feed and an oxidant in a ratio of flow of said oxidant to said hydrocarbon feed having a range of from 2.3 to 0.5 with a first catalyst selected from the group consisting of ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, platinum and mixtures thereof or Li/MgO, Li/Sm.sub.2 O.sub.3, SrLa.sub.2 O.sub.3 and mixtures thereof, the catalyst being supported on a ceramic substrate selected from the group consisting of magnesium oxide, silica, zirconium oxide, titanium oxide and mixtures thereof;(b) providing a gas stream from a protective atmosphere from a thermal treatment process, said gas stream comprising an oxygen containing nitrogen;(c) combining the first reaction product from step (a) and the gas stream from step (b);(d) reacting the oxygen in said gas stream with carbon monoxide and hydrogen formed in step (a) to form water and carbon dioxide;(e) reacting the carbon monoxide and hydrogen with said hydrocarbons formed in step (a) over a second catalyst selected from the group consisting of noble metals, ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, platinum and mixtures thereof, to convert carbon monoxide and hydrogen, thereby reducing the dew point of the gas,(f) returning the gas of step (e) to the thermal treatment.