Patent ID: 8057773

Claim:
A process for reducing the carbon dioxide emissions of a petroleum refinery or petrochemical plant by utilizing a low carbon hydrogen stream to fuel the process fired heaters and capturing the carbon dioxide stream pre-combustion comprising: a) feeding a plurality of hydrocarbon feedstocks and steam to a steam reformer unit located in a petroleum refinery or petrochemical plant, said steam reformer unit comprising a reactor section and a furnace section, to create a synthetic gas stream; b) shifting said synthetic gas stream catalytically using a water gas shift unit to create a shifted synthetic gas stream; c) capturing the carbon dioxide from said shifted synthetic gas stream through a carbon dioxide absorption process; d) purifying the hydrogen remaining in said shifted synthetic gas stream after step c) to create a purified hydrogen fuel stream and a purge gas stream; e) feeding said purified hydrogen fuel stream to process fired heaters, said furnace section of said steam reformer, and/or other process users within the petroleum refinery or petrochemical plant; and f) recycling said purge gas stream from step d) to said reactor section and/or said furnace section of said steam reformer unit, and wherein the carbon emissions of the petroleum refinery or petrochemical plant are reduced by more than 20 percent.