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US 11,999,619 B2Granted
Hydrogen production with membrane reactor
AssigneeSaudi Arabian Oil Company
InventorsStephen N. Paglieri, Aadesh Harale
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for producing hydrogen, including providing hydrocarbon and steam into a vessel to a region external to a tubular membrane in the vessel. The method includes steam reforming the hydrocarbon in the vessel via reforming catalyst to generate hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The method includes diffusing the hydrogen through the tubular membrane into a bore of the tubular membrane, wherein the tubular membrane is hydrogen selective.
Claims35
A hydrogen production system comprising:
- a vessel comprising an inlet to receive hydrocarbon;
- a reforming catalyst to convert the hydrocarbon into a product gas comprising hydrogen and carbon dioxide, wherein the reforming catalyst is disposed on an inside surface of a wall of the vessel and disposed on multiple resistive heaters in the vessel and an inner wall of the vessel;
- the multiple resistive heaters to heat the reforming catalyst and the hydrocarbon;
- electrical heaters disposed on an outside surface of the wall of the vessel;
- multiple tubular membranes that are hydrogen selective and disposed in the vessel to separate the hydrogen from the product gas into a respective bore of the multiple tubular membrane, the multiple tubular membranes positioned in the vessel in multiple pairs of tubular membranes, with each pair of tubular membranes sharing a longitudinal axis that is aligned with a central axis of the vessel, with each tubular membrane of a pair of tubular membranes comprising a capped end and positioned such that the capped ends of the tubular membranes of the pair of tubular membranes are adjacent;
- and
- a conduit collection header receives the hydrogen from the bore of the tubular membrane.
4 more elements
A catalytic membrane reactor for hydrogen production, comprising:
- a vessel comprising an inlet to receive hydrocarbon;
- a reforming catalyst in the vessel to convert the hydrocarbon into a product gas comprising hydrogen and carbon dioxide;
- electrical heaters disposed on an outside surface of a wall of the vessel;
- multiple electrical resistive heaters to heat the reforming catalyst and to provide heat to fluid in the vessel, wherein each of the multiple resistive heaters have a longitudinal axis offset and parallel to a longitudinal axis of each of multiple cylindrical membranes;
- and
- the multiple cylindrical membranes are hydrogen selective to separate permeate comprising hydrogen from the product gas via the permeate diffusing through a wall of each cylindrical membrane to a bore of each cylindrical membrane, wherein the bore of each cylindrical membrane is coupled to a conduit collection header, and wherein the conduit collection header is configured to receive the permeate from each bore, wherein
- the multiple cylindrical membranes are positioned in the vessel in multiple pairs of cylindrical membranes, with each pair of cylindrical membranes sharing an axis that is aligned with a longitudinal axis of the vessel, with each cylindrical membrane of a pair of cylindrical membranes comprising a capped end and positioned such that the capped ends of the cylindrical membranes of the pair of cylindrical membranes are adjacent.
4 more elements
A hydrogen production system comprising:
- a vessel comprising an inlet to receive hydrocarbon;
- a reforming catalyst to convert the hydrocarbon into a product gas comprising hydrogen and carbon dioxide, wherein the reforming catalyst is disposed on an inside surface of a wall of the vessel and disposed on multiple resistive heaters in the vessel and an inner wall of the vessel;
- the multiple resistive heaters to heat the reforming catalyst and the hydrocarbon;
- electrical heaters disposed on an outside surface of the wall of the vessel;
- multiple tubular membranes that are hydrogen selective and disposed in the vessel to separate the hydrogen from the product gas into a respective bore of the multiple tubular membrane;
- a conduit collection header configured to receive the hydrogen from the bore of the tubular membrane;
- and
- a conduit configured to provide nitrogen or steam as a sweep gas to the respective bore of the multiple tubular membrane, the conduit comprising an inner tube concentrically positioned in the bore to facilitate flow of the sweep gas in the bore to displace hydrogen from the bore toward the conduit collection header.
5 more elements
A catalytic membrane reactor for hydrogen production, comprising:
- a vessel comprising an inlet to receive hydrocarbon;
- a reforming catalyst in the vessel to convert the hydrocarbon into a product gas comprising hydrogen and carbon dioxide;
- electrical heaters disposed on an outside surface of a wall of the vessel;
- multiple electrical resistive heaters to heat the reforming catalyst and to provide heat to fluid in the vessel, wherein each of the multiple resistive heaters have a longitudinal axis offset and parallel to a longitudinal axis of each of multiple cylindrical membranes;
- the multiple cylindrical membranes are hydrogen selective to separate permeate comprising hydrogen from the product gas via the permeate diffusing through a wall of each cylindrical membrane to a bore of each cylindrical membrane, wherein the bore of each cylindrical membrane is coupled to a conduit collection header, and wherein the conduit collection header is configured to receive the permeate from each bore;
- and
- an inner tube concentrically positioned in the bore of each cylindrical membrane to facilitate flow of sweep gas to displace the permeate from the bore of each cylindrical membrane to the conduit collection header.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.