Method for increasing efficiency and reducing emissions in a steam reforming plant

A method for decreasing the SFFC of a steam reforming plant, comprising:

• a. introducing a hydrocarbon stream and a steam stream into a steam methane reformer, thereby producing a raw syngas stream,
• b. introducing the raw syngas stream into a high temperature water gas shift converter, thereby producing a shift gas stream, and
• c. introducing the shift gas stream into a pressure swing adsorption unit, thereby producing a hydrogen product stream
• thereby establishing a base operating mode,
• wherein said pressure swing adsorption unit has a base overall hydrogen recovery,
• wherein said base operating mode has a base hydrogen production, a base hydrogen production unit firing duty, a base SCO2e, a base SCO2c, and a base SFFC,
• the method further comprising:
• d. introducing the shift gas stream into a solvent based, non-cryogenic separator prior to introduction into the pressure swing adsorption unit, thereby producing a saturated carbon dioxide stream, and a carbon dioxide lean shift gas stream,
• e. combining the carbon dioxide lean shift gas stream with a hydrogen enriched permeate stream and introducing the combined gas stream into the pressure swing adsorption unit, thereby producing a modified hydrogen product stream, which contains not more than 90% of the total hydrogen produced by the syngas generation and water gas shift steps, and a hydrogen depleted off-gas stream, which contains not less than 10% of the total hydrogen contained within the shift gas stream,
• f. introducing the compressed hydrogen depleted off-gas stream in a membrane separation unit, thereby producing a hydrogen enriched permeate stream and a hydrogen depleted retentate stream, wherein the membrane is configured to produce the hydrogen enriched permeate stream at a suitable pressure to allow the hydrogen enriched permeate stream to be combined with carbon dioxide lean shift gas stream, prior to introduction into the pressure swing adsorption unit without requiring additional compression,
• thereby establishing a modified operating mode,
• wherein said pressure swing adsorption unit has a modified overall hydrogen recovery,
• wherein said modified operating mode has a modified hydrogen production, a modified hydrogen production unit firing duty, a modified SCO2e, and a modified SFFC.