Patent ID: 8758459

Claim:
A gaseous hydrocarbon-steam reforming process comprising: a) partially combusting the fuel in a first fuel/air mixture stream to heat the fuel/air mixture stream for use during reforming of a gaseous hydrocarbon-steam stream; b) combusting a second fuel/air mixture stream to heat an air stream for use during reforming of the gaseous hydrocarbon-steam stream; and c) reforming the gaseous hydrocarbon-steam stream to form a syngas stream and a flue gas stream; wherein said reforming comprises at least three stages of: i) heating the gaseous hydrocarbon-steam stream by recovering heat from the heated air stream to form a heated reformer stream and a cooled air stream; ii) reforming at least a portion of the heated reformer stream; and iii) combusting a portion of the partially combusted fuel/air mixture stream in the presence of the cooled air stream to re-heat the cooled air stream.