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US 7,442,349 B2Granted
Ammonia plant configuration and methods
AssigneeFluor Technologies Corporation
InventorsSatish Reddy, Mukund Bhakta, Sunil Vyas
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A synthesis plant includes a separation system upstream of a synthesis loop that removes excess nitrogen and other gaseous compounds from a feed gas having a ratio of hydrogen to nitrogen of less than 3:1, thereby producing a syngas with a ratio of hydrogen to nitrogen at about 3:1. Particularly preferred separation systems include a coldbox with a refrigerant other than air, or a pressure swing absorption system.
Claims16
A plant comprising:
- a primary reformer fluidly coupled to a secondary reformer, wherein the secondary reformer is configured to receive (a) a reformed gas from the primary reformer and (b) a stream of additional process air to thereby produce a reformer effluent that has a molar ratio of hydrogen to nitrogen of less than 2.5;
- an ammonia synthesis loop that is configured to form an ammonia product from an ammonia synthesis make-up gas having a molar ratio of hydrogen to nitrogen of about 3.0,
- wherein the synthesis loop is downstream of and operationally coupled to a refrigeration circuit that is configured to use a refrigerant other than air to cool the reformer effluent that has the molar ratio of hydrogen to nitrogen of less than 2.5;
- and
- a separation unit that is operationally coupled to the refrigeration circuit and that is upstream of and fluidly coupled to the synthesis loop, wherein the separation unit is configured to receive the cooled reformer effluent and to separate the cooled reformer effluent into a fuel gas and the ammonia synthesis make-up gas.
2 more elements
A plant comprising:
- a primary reformer fluidly coupled to a secondary reformer, wherein the secondary reformer is configured to receive (a) a reformed gas from the primary reformer and (b) a stream of additional process air to thereby produce a reformer effluent that has a molar ratio of hydrogen to nitrogen of less than 3.0;
- a pressure swing absorption unit that is configured to receive a first portion of the reformer effluent that has the molar ratio of hydrogen to nitrogen of less than 3.0 and to reject nitrogen from the first portion of the reformer effluent and to produce a hydrogen product gas and a fuel gas containing the nitrogen;
- and
- a synthesis loop that is configured to receive an ammonia synthesis make-up gas that is a mixture of at least the hydrogen product gas and a second portion of the feed gas.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.