Air Separation and Syngas
Plant
Matt Levy, Clint Vericker, Helena Bliss,
Wen Zhang
Advisor:
Dennis O’Brien, PE
Jacobs Consultancy
Synthesis gas, otherwise known as syngas, is a
mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. It is
most commonly used an intermediate for
synthetic methanol, ammonia, natural gas and
oil production. Syngas can be produced from a
range of feedstocks including naphtha, coal,
biomass, and natural gas. The primary goal of
this project is to design an economically viable
plant which produces a synthesis gas stream
from a methane rich natural gas source while
meeting all EPA and OSHA safety standards.
This plant is one part of a larger natural gas
treatment complex and will be feeding syngas to
both a Fischer Tropsch and Gas to Liquids plant.
The ideal hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio
that should be delivered is 2.0. Using an
autothermal reformer (ATR) and a nickel catalyst
along with purified oxygen, this ratio can be
easily delivered. Autothermal reforming utilizes
partial oxidation combustion to produce
hydrogen and carbon monoxide in an
exothermic reaction that provides heat for the
secondary endothermic
steam
reforming
reaction. These two reactions lead to a high
conversion of methane.
Partial oxidation
benefits from a pure stream of oxygen. Due to
the cost of externally supplying oxygen to the
system, this plant also incorporates a dedicated
cryogenic air separations unit to produce 99 %
pure oxygen. This air separations plant will also
provide high purity oxygen to the Fertilizer and
Midrex Plants, as well as high purity nitrogen to
the Ammonia plant all within the natural gas
complex.
Word count: 233