Patent ID: 8512443

Claim:
A method for recovery of hydrogen in a refinery, comprising: providing a first hydrogen stream having a hydrogen content of about 90% or less by volume and having a pressure from about 145 psig (about 1.0 MPag) to about 870 psig (about 6.0 MPag) from a first refinery process unit; providing a second hydrogen stream having a hydrogen content of about 90% or less by volume at a pressure of at least about 580 psig (about 4.0 MPag) from a second refinery process unit; performing a membrane separation on the second hydrogen stream to produce a hydrogen permeate stream having a hydrogen content of at least about 99.0% by volume, the hydrogen permeate stream having a pressure of about 100 psig (about 0.7 MPag) or less; exposing the first hydrogen stream to an adsorbent in a cycling adsorber unit to produce a hydrogen product stream having a hydrogen content of at least about 99.0% by volume and a pressure of at least about 90% of the pressure of the first hydrogen stream; contacting the adsorbent with the hydrogen permeate stream to regenerate the adsorbent; forming a tail gas stream at least in part from the hydrogen permeate stream after contact with the adsorbent; and compressing the tail gas stream to have a pressure greater than about 100 psig (about 0.7 MPag).