Patent ID: 8591861

Claim:
A process comprising: combining a first feed stream and a second feed stream to produce, in a prereforming reactor, a first product stream comprising CH 4 and H 2 O, wherein: the first feed stream comprises a mixture of H 2 and at least one component selected from the group consisting of hydrocarbons having two or more carbon atoms and alcohols having two or more carbon atoms, wherein more than 5% of the first feed stream comprises said hydrocarbons and/or alcohols having two or more carbon atoms and the amount of hydrogen is such that the first feed stream has a hydrogen stoichiometric ratio (λ) in the range of 0.1≦λ≦1.5; and the second feed stream comprises steam, wherein the molar ratio of steam to carbon atom contained in the combined first and second feed stream, S:C, is between about 3:1 to 4:1; so that an exothermic hydrogenation reaction takes place when the first and the second feed streams are combined in the prereforming reactor; feeding the first product stream into a syngas generation reactor; and reacting the first product stream in the syngas generation reactor to produce a second product stream comprising synthesis gas.