Patent ID: 7670395

Claim:
A reforming reactor for the conversion of a process fluid into hydrogen comprising: a reforming section which is contained within a closed volume, a boiler section and a combustion section, in which said reforming section contains one or more catalyst tubes filled with reforming catalyst, said boiler section is provided with one or more flow channels for the passage of flue gas from the combustion section and said combustion section is provided with at least one burner, wherein the heat exchanging medium required for the reforming of said process fluid in the one or more catalyst tubes is a gas-liquid mixture that self-circulates outside the one or more catalyst tubes and without passing inside said one or more catalyst tubes, wherein the heat exchanging medium is encapsulated inside said closed volume and wherein at least a portion of said closed volume protrudes inside said boiler section, wherein the process fluid entering the reactor comprises methanol, DME or a mixture of DME and methanol, and wherein the gas-liquid mixture is a saturated steam-water system circulating at a pressure of 55 to 110 bar g and a temperature of 270° C. to about 320° C.