Method for ammonia cracking hydrogen separation

A method for producing hydrogen in a retrofitted steam methane reformer (SMR) via ammonia cracking, the SMR comprising a furnace, a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) unit, and a plurality of waste heat recovery sections, wherein the furnace has a plurality of reactor tubes and a plurality of burners, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) withdrawing ammonia from an ammonia storage vessel;
• (b) preheating the ammonia to form a warm ammonia stream;
• (c) introducing the warm ammonia stream into the reactor tubes of the furnace under conditions effective for catalytically cracking the ammonia, thereby forming a crude stream comprising hydrogen, nitrogen, and unreacted ammonia;
• (d) treating the crude stream with a water wash in order to reduce the amount of the unreacted ammonia in the crude stream, thereby resulting in an aqueous ammonia stream and a washed crude stream;
• and
• (e) introducing the washed crude stream into the PSA unit to produce a hydrogen product stream and a PSA off-gas,
• (f) wherein the SMR further comprises a water gas shift reactor disposed between the furnace and the plurality of waste recovery sections, wherein the water gas shift reactor is retroactively configured to conduct step (d).