Patent ID: 7585339

Claim:
Process for selectively reforming ethanol to a hydrogen-rich product in the presence of at least one catalyst comprising a catalytically active material supported on a carrier, the process comprising the following steps in which the at least one catalyst is active: transferring a stream of ethanol and steam and a hydrogen-comprising stream, the molar ratio of ethanol to hydrogen being 0.2-1, to a dehydration/hydrogenation reactor for dehydrating ethanol to ethylene in the absence of oxygen and for hydrogenating ethylene to produce an ethane-containing stream; subsequently adiabatically pre-reforming the ethane-comprising stream to a stream comprising methane; subsequently steam reforming the stream comprising methane to produce a mixture comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide; and converting the mixture comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide from the steam reforming step under water gas shift conditions to produce a hydrogen-rich product stream.