Patent ID: 7666383

Claim:
A method to produce at least one gas, wherein said gas comprises at least hydrogen gas, said method comprising: (a) in a carbon black reactor, converting at least a portion of at least one hydrocarbon feedstock to carbon black in the presence of combustion gases generated by burning a fuel in a gas consisting essentially of oxygen and nitrogen, wherein said carbon black is present in a product stream and said product stream comprises carbon black, one or more impurities, hydrogen gas, and CO gas, wherein said impurities comprise sulfur-containing material or nitrogen-containing material or both, wherein said fuel is a portion of said hydrocarbon feedstock or a separate fuel source; (b) removing substantially all of the carbon black from said product stream, wherein said carbon black removed in step (b) is a carbon black within at least an ASTM specification for carbon blacks with respect to at least structure and surface area; converting at least a portion of said CO gas in said product stream to CO 2 ; and (c) removing at least a portion of the impurities including nitrogen from said product stream, transferring said product stream after step (c) to a process unit for use as a fuel or chemical feedstock, wherein said product stream has 1 wt % or less nitrogen present, and recovering said product stream after step (c), wherein said product stream after said converting of CO to CO 2 and said removing of impurities comprises hydrogen gas in an amount of from about 90% to about 99.99% by volume of said product stream.