239results about "Hydrogen separation at low temperature" patented technology

A system and method for co-production of hydrogen and electrical energy. The system comprises a fuel cell assembly comprising a plurality of fuel cells. The fuel cells further comprise a cathode inlet for receiving a compressed oxidant, an anode inlet for receiving a fuel feed stream, an anode outlet in fluid communication with an anode exhaust stream and a cathode outlet in fluid communication with a cathode exhaust stream. At least a portion of the fuel feed stream reacts with the oxidant to produce electrical power. The anode exhaust stream comprises hydrogen. The co-production system further comprises a separation unit in fluid communication with the fuel cell assembly. The separation unit is configured to receive the anode exhaust stream from the fuel cell assembly to separate hydrogen from the anode exhaust stream.

Systems to convert a carbonaceous feedstock into a plurality of gaseous products are described. The systems include, among other units, four separate gasification reactors for the gasification of a carbonaceous feedstock in the presence of an alkali metal catalyst into the plurality of gaseous products including at least methane. Each of the gasification reactors may be supplied with the feedstock from a single or separate catalyst loading and / or feedstock preparation unit operations. Similarly, the hot gas streams from each gasification reactor may be purified via their combination at a heat exchanger, acid gas removal, or methane removal unit operations. Product purification may comprise trace contaminant removal units, ammonia removal and recovery units, and sour shift units.

The present invention relates to processes for preparing gaseous products, and in particular methane, via the hydromethanation of carbonaceous feedstocks in the presence of steam, carbon monoxide, hydrogen and a hydromethanation catalyst.

This invention relates to a novel process for sustainable CO2-free production of hydrogen and carbon by thermocatalytic decomposition (or dissociation, pyrolysis, cracking) of hydrocarbon fuels over carbon-based catalysts in the absence of air and / or water. The process is applicable to any hydrocarbon fuel, including sulfurous fuels. Combination of a catalytic reactor with a gas separation unit allows to produce high purity hydrogen (at least, 99.0 v %) completely free of carbon oxides. In a preferred embodiment, sustainable continuous production of hydrogen and carbon is achieved by both internal and external activation of carbon catalysts. Internal activation of carbon catalyst is accomplished by recycling of hydrogen-depleted gas containing unsaturated and aromatic hydrocarbons back to the reactor. External activation can be achieved via surface gasification of carbon catalysts by hot combustion gases during catalyst heating. The process can conveniently be integrated with any type of fuel cell.

This invention relates to a novel process for sustainable CO2-free production of hydrogen and carbon by thermocatalytic decomposition (or dissociation, pyrolysis, cracking) of hydrocarbon fuels over carbon-based catalysts in the absence of air and / or water. The process is applicable to any hydrocarbon fuel, including sulfurous fuels. Combination of a catalytic reactor with a gas separation unit allows to produce high purity hydrogen (at least, 99.0 v %) completely free of carbon oxides. In a preferred embodiment, sustainable continuous production of hydrogen and carbon is achieved by both internal and external activation of carbon catalysts. Internal activation of carbon catalyst is accomplished by recycling of hydrogen-depleted gas containing unsaturated and aromatic hydrocarbons back to the reactor. External activation can be achieved via surface gasification of carbon catalysts by hot combustion gases during catalyst heating. The process can conveniently be integrated with any type of fuel cell.

An energy-efficient method of recovering carbon dioxide (CO2) in a high-pressure liquid state from a high-pressure gas stream. The method includes cooling, condensing, and / or separating CO2 from a high-pressure gas stream in two or more separation zones and further purifying the resulting sub-critical pressure liquid CO2 streams in a third purification zone to thereby provide purified CO2. The purified liquid CO2 may be pumped to above the critical pressure for further utilization and / or sequestration for industrial or environmental purposes.

The present invention provides a process for recovering hydrogen and carbon dioxide from a process stream (1) of a process unit (0) wherein the process stream (1) contains at least carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane. In the process, the process stream (1) is optionally compressing in a first compressor (2) before being cooled in a heat exchanger (3) to a temperature equal to or less than −10° C. Next, the cooled process stream (1) is separated and purified in a carbon dioxide separation unit (4) to produce a carbon dioxide rich liquid stream (6) and a carbon dioxide lean non-condensable stream (5) with the carbon dioxide rich liquid stream (6) being withdrawn as a carbon dioxide product for further use. The carbon dioxide lean non-condensable stream (5) is then withdrawn from the carbon dioxide separation unit (4) and passed through a hydrogen selective membrane separation unit (7) to form a hydrogen rich permeate stream (8) with the remaining components in the carbon dioxide lean non-condensable stream (5) forming a hydrogen lean residue stream (9). The hydrogen lean residue stream (9) is passed through a carbon dioxide selective membrane separation unit (10) to form a carbon dioxide enriched permeate stream (11) with the remaining components in the hydrogen lean residue stream (9) forming a carbon dioxide depleted residue stream (12). The hydrogen rich permeate stream (8) is optionally compressed in a second compressor (13) and recycled for use as a supplemental feed stream in the process unit (0) or in other processes. The carbon dioxide enriched permeate stream (11) is recycled to the process stream (1) prior to the compressor (2) or within the compressor (2) between stages of compression, or to the carbon dioxide separation unit (4) while the carbon dioxide depleted residue stream (12) is withdrawn for further use. The present invention further relates to the use of this process within a hydrogen generation plant to increase recovery of hydrogen and capture equal to or greater than 90% of the carbon dioxide in the syngas stream.

The integrated processes of the dry reforming or partial oxidation upstream of the carbon nanotube-producing reactor are described allowing the carbon monoxide to be produced on an as-needed basis, negating the need to transport carbon monoxide to the production site or store large quantities of carbon monoxide on-site. The apparatuses allowing to carry out such integrated processes are also provided. Carbon dioxide emissions may be eliminated from the carbon nanotube production process. This may be achieved by recycling the carbon dioxide byproduct and mixing it with the feed to the partial oxidation process.

A Renewable Fischer Tropsch Synthesis (RFTS) process produces hydrocarbons and alcohol fuels from wind energy, waste CO2 and water. The process includes (A) electrolyzing water to generate hydrogen and oxygen, (B) generating syngas in a reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reactor, (C) driving the RWGS reaction to the right by condensing water from the RWGS products and separating CO using a CuAlCl4-aromatic complexing method, (D) using a compressor with variable stator nozzles, (E) carrying out the FTS reactions in a high-temperature multi-tubular reactor, (F) separating the FTS products using high-pressure fractional condensation, (G) separating CO2 from product streams for recycling through the RWGS reactor, and (H) using control methods to maintain temperatures of the reactors, electrolyzer, and condensers at optima that are functions of the flow rate. The RFTS process may also include heat engines, a refrigeration cycle utilizing compressed oxygen, and a dual-source organic Rankine cycle.

The integrated processes of the dry reforming or partial oxidation upstream of the carbon nanotube-producing reactor are described allowing the carbon monoxide to be produced on an as-needed basis, negating the need to transport carbon monoxide to the production site or store large quantities of carbon monoxide on-site. The apparatuses allowing to carry out such integrated processes are also provided. Carbon dioxide emissions may be eliminated from the carbon nanotube production process. This may be achieved by recycling the carbon dioxide byproduct and mixing it with the feed to the partial oxidation process.

Hydrogen production is provided via integrated closed-loop processing of landfill gas (LFG) and solid biomass feedstocks such as various agricultural wastes with minimal environmental impact. LFG is purified of harmful contaminants over a bed of activated charcoal (AC) and is catalytically reformed to synthesis gas, which is further processed to pure hydrogen via CO-shift and pressure-swing adsorption stages. Biomass is gasified in the presence of steam with production of a producer gas and AC. The producer gas is mixed with LFG and is processed to hydrogen as described above. High-surface area AC produced in the gasifier is used for the purification of both LFG and producer gas. An integrated processing of LFG and biomass offers a number of advantages such as a high overall energy efficiency, feedstock flexibility, substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and production of value-added product-biocarbon that can be used as a soil enhancer.

A method for producing olefins and synthesis gas comprising (a) introducing a reactant mixture to a reactor, wherein the reactant mixture comprises methane (CH4) and oxygen (O2), wherein the reactor is characterized by a reaction temperature of from about 700° C. to about 1,100° C.; (b) allowing at least a portion of the reactant mixture to react via an oxidative coupling of CH4 reaction to form a product mixture, wherein the product mixture comprises primary products and unreacted methane, wherein the primary products comprise C2+ hydrocarbons and synthesis gas, wherein the C2+ hydrocarbons comprise olefins, and wherein a selectivity to primary products is from about 70% to about 99%; and (c) recovering at least a portion of the product mixture from the reactor.

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods useful for providing one or more chemical compounds in a substantially pure form. In particular, the systems and methods can be configured for separation of carbon dioxide from a process stream, such as a process stream in a hydrogen production system. As such, the present disclosure can provide systems and method for production of hydrogen and / or carbon dioxide.

A process for recovering hydrogen from a stream comprised of hydrogen, non-condensable gases, and propane and lighter hydrocarbons, wherein the process comprises the steps of stripping hydrogen and non condensable gases out of the feed light ends stream with methane vapor, washing the stripped hydrogen stream with liquid methane to absorb the non condensable gases, and washing the hydrogen stream with a hydrocarbon lean oil such as liquid ethane to absorb methane, to produce the product hydrogen stream.

An ammonia plant is disclosed, where ammonia purge gas (20), is sent to a cryogenic recovery unit, said recovery unit comprising means of cooling (102, 202, 302, 402, 502) and a high-pressure phase separator (103, 203, 303, 403, 503) operating at loop pressure; inside said unit the purge gas (20) is cooled to a cryogenic temperature, and a partial liquefaction of methane and argon is achieved; the high-pressure phase separator separates the cooled stream into a gaseous stream and a bottom liquid; the gaseous stream is reheated in a passage of a heat exchanger; the unit is then capable to export a gaseous stream (123, 223, 323, 423, 523) containing nitrogen and hydrogen at loop pressure, that can be reintroduced at the suction side of the circulator (4) of the loop.

The invention discloses a method for simultaneously preparing pure hydrogen and pure carbon monoxide by gasification without desorbed gas circulation. The crude synthetic gas prepared by the gasification unit is divided into two parts, one part is used for preparing pure carbon monoxide, and the other part is preparing pure hydrogen. The process of preparing pure carbon monoxide is divided into two parts: one part is used for preparing pure carbon monoxide with the crude synthetic gas prepared by gasification by a heat recovery unit, a low temperature methanol washing I unit, and a cryogenic separation unit; and the other part is used for preparing pure carbon monoxide by the hydrogen rich gas from the outlet of the cold box of the cryogenic separation unit sending into a PSA-CO unit. The feedstock of preparing hydrogen is divided into two parts: one part is the converted gas which is purified by a conversion unit and a low temperature methanol washing II unit with the crude synthetic gas prepared by gasification and contains carbon monoxide -1% (mol), and the other part is the hydrogen rich gas from a resurgent TSA device of the cryogenic separation unit, and the two parts of the gas are mixed and sent into the PSA-H2 unit to prepare pure hydrogen. The method has high recovery rates of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, has no desorbed gas circulation and no resurgent gas introduced by environment, has small investment and low energy consumption, and can adjust product gas scale of hydrogen and carbon monoxide flexibly.

An energy-efficient method of recovering carbon dioxide (CO2) in a high-pressure liquid state from a high-pressure gas stream. The method includes cooling, condensing, and / or separating CO2 from a high-pressure gas stream in two or more separation zones and further purifying the resulting sub-critical pressure liquid CO2 streams in a third purification zone to thereby provide purified CO2. The purified liquid CO2 may be pumped to above the critical pressure for further utilization and / or sequestration for industrial or environmental purposes.

A novel system and method for storing hydrogen in a salt cavern and supplying therefrom is provided. Hydrogen product withdrawn from a hydrogen pipeline may be chilled prior to being introduced into a cavern in order to cool at least a portion of the walls of the salt cavern so that one or more layers of the localized portion of the walls attains a stabilized state whereby contaminant release from the walls is suppressed. The present invention anticipates and strategically plans for contaminant intrusion form a salt cavern in order to reduce the degree of contaminant intrusion from a salt cavern while also allowing the stored hydrogen to have more absorption capacity for water vapor by virtue of entering the salt cavern in a sufficiently drier state. Alternatively, or in addition thereto, a crude hydrogen stream may be withdrawn from the cavern and chilled prior to introducing to the hydrogen pipeline.

The invention relates to the integration of a dehydroaromatization process with the processes for the utilization of associated gas; gases comprising methane and higher hydrocarbons, and / or liquefied natural gas (LNG) production or usage.

Systems and methods for producing ammonia and / or ammonia products. The ammonia and / or ammonia products can be produced by compressing a gas mixture comprising nitrogen, hydrogen, methane, and argon to produce a compressed gas mixture having a pressure of from about 1,000 kPa (130 psig) to about 10,400 kPa (1,495 psig). All or a portion of the compressed gas mixture can be selectively separated at cryogenic conditions to produce a first gas comprising nitrogen and hydrogen, and a second gas comprising methane, argon, residual hydrogen and nitrogen. At least a portion of the first gas can be reacted at conditions sufficient to produce an ammonia product.

A pressure differential of a feed gas (110) between a compressor (120) and expander (160) is employed to cool the feed gas to condense and remove at least a portion of one component to produce a partially depleted feed gas from which another component may then be removed. In especially preferred aspects, the feed gas comprises C2-C5 hydrocarbons and hydrogen, wherein the hydrocarbons are condensed in the cooler and hydrogen is removed using a pressure swing adsorption unit (180).

Ammonia is made from a carbon-containing heterogeneous feedstock by partially oxidizing the feedstock at low pressure to generate a synthesis gas containing CO; isothermally shift reacting the synthesis gas with steam to form H2; cryogenically removing portions of the CO2 and Ar from the shifted gas; purifying the H2 in a pressure swing adsorber; mixing the purified H2 with high purity N2; and converting the H2 and N2 into ammonia. The tail stream from the pressure swing adsorber can be recycled with the synthesis gas for control purposes and / or used as boiler fuel. The reduced volume of purge gas purged from the ammonia synthesis loop allows ammonia contained in the purge gas stream to be recovered by cryogenic condensing.

The invention discloses a low-temperature hydrogen purification device which comprises a catalytic deoxidization device, a normal-temperature adsorption device, a low-temperature heat exchange device and a low-temperature adsorption device. Deoxidization is performed on crude hydrogen by the catalytic deoxidization device, the crude hydrogen is cooled to reach normal temperature by the catalytic deoxidization device, the normal-temperature adsorption device is used for adsorbing nitrogen in the crude hydrogen, the low-temperature heat exchange device is used for cooling the crude hydrogen, and the low-temperature adsorption device is used for adsorbing the nitrogen in the crude hydrogen. A gas inlet of the catalytic deoxidization device is connected with the crude hydrogen, a gas outlet of the catalytic deoxidization device is sequentially connected with the normal-temperature adsorption device, the low-temperature heat exchange device and the low-temperature adsorption device through pipelines, the normal-temperature adsorption device further can adsorb water and carbon dioxide in the crude hydrogen, and the low-temperature adsorption device further can adsorb micro-oxygen in the crude hydrogen. The invention further discloses a control method of the low-temperature hydrogen purification device. The low-temperature hydrogen purification device can obtain hydrogen with higher purity and better quality by the aid of tertiary purification technology, and the purification device further has the advantages of low operating cost, less equipment investment, convenience in operation, simplicity and convenience in maintenance and high reliability.

A system for recycling vented atmosphere gas discharged from a heat treatment chamber utilizing a protective atmosphere gas therein. The system includes an atmosphere recycling apparatus configured to receive the vented atmosphere gas. The atmosphere recycling apparatus includes a gas separator configured to separate the vented atmosphere gas into a purified atmosphere gas stream and an impure stream. The atmosphere recycling apparatus is configured to feed the purified atmosphere gas stream to the heat treatment chamber. A storage vessel can be provided to receive the purified atmosphere gas stream from the atmosphere recycling apparatus, and configured to supplement an atmosphere gas supply to the heat treatment chamber with the purified atmosphere gas stream.

A zero-emission, closed-loop and hybrid solar-produced syngas power cycle is introduced utilizing an oxygen transport reactor (OTR). The fuel is syngas produced within the cycle. The separated oxygen inside the OTR through the ion transport membrane (ITM) is used in the syngas-oxygen combustion process in the permeate side of the OTR. The combustion products in the permeate side of the OTR are CO2 and H2O. The combustion gases are used in a turbine for power production and energy utilization then a condenser is used to separate H2O from CO2. CO2 is compressed to the feed side of the OTR. H2O is evaporated after separation from CO2 and fed to the feed side of the OTR.

The invention discloses a low-temperature methanol washing device and a method for removing acid gas in synthesis gas. A main low-temperature methanol washing process is reconfigured, semi-lean solution methanol is additionally taken as main washing methanol on the basis of an original full-lean solution absorption process, and the dosage of lean solution methanol is decreased by 15%-30%, so that the dosages of thermal regeneration tower reboiler steam, thermal regeneration tower top condenser circulating water, lean methanol water cooler circulating water and H2S concentration tower gas stripping nitrogen are decreased by 15%-30% to achieve the energy saving and yield increasing targets; meanwhile, a traditional three-stage condensation process on a thermal regeneration tower top is canceled, therefore, methanol losses are reduced, and an ammonia crystallization phenomenon is avoided. Energy saving and yield increasing improvement on a traditional low-temperature methanol washing device is also suitable for the newly-built low-temperature methanol washing device.

Provided is a production facility for liquefied hydrogen and a liquefied natural gas from a natural gas, including: a first heat exchanger configured to cool a hydrogen gas through heat exchange between the hydrogen gas and a mixed refrigerant for liquefying a natural gas containing a plurality of kinds of refrigerants selected from the group consisting of methane, ethane, propane, and nitrogen; a second heat exchanger configured to cool the mixed refrigerant through heat exchange between the mixed refrigerant and propane; and a third heat exchanger configured to cool the hydrogen gas through heat exchange between the hydrogen gas and a refrigerant containing hydrogen or helium, wherein the first heat exchanger has a precooling temperature of from −100° C. to −160° C.