Process and apparatus for cracking ammonia
AssigneeAir Products and Chemicals, Inc.
InventorsVincent White, Andrew Shaw, Simon Craig Saloway
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention concerns a process and apparatus for cracking ammonia in which heated ammonia gas at super-atmospheric pressure is partially cracked catalytically in an adiabatic reaction unit to produce partially cracked ammonia gas which is heated and fed to catalyst-containing reactor tubes in a furnace to cause cracking of further ammonia and produce a cracked gas comprising hydrogen gas, nitrogen gas and residual ammonia gas. At least some, preferably all, of the duty required to heat the partially cracked ammonia gas is provided by heat exchange with the cracked gas, enabling more efficient heat integration within the process.
Claims15
A process for cracking ammonia comprising:
- providing a heated ammonia gas at super-atmospheric pressure;
- partially cracking the heated ammonia gas in an adiabatic reaction unit comprising at least one catalyst bed to produce a partially cracked ammonia gas;
- heating the partially cracked ammonia gas to produce a heated partially cracked ammonia gas;
- combusting a fuel with an oxidant gas in a furnace to heat catalyst-containing reactor tubes and produce a flue gas;
- and
- feeding the heated partially cracked ammonia gas to the catalyst-containing reactor tubes to cause cracking of further ammonia to produce a cracked gas comprising hydrogen gas, nitrogen gas and residual ammonia gas,
- wherein at least some of the duty required to heat the partially cracked ammonia gas is provided by heat exchange with the cracked gas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.