Hydrogen Production
Envitrack has a broad portfolio of steam reforming catalysts. Our expertise ensures reliable solutions for optimizing industrial processes.
​
Steam reforming is a process used to produce syngas (a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide) by reacting hydrocarbons with water. Natural gas is commonly the feedstock. Its primary purpose is hydrogen production, which is crucial for industries such as ammonia and methanol manufacturing, as well as various petrochemical processes. The reaction takes place in multitubular packed bed reactors, a form of plug flow reactors. Steam reforming of natural gas produces most of the world's hydrogen. The process involves several stages, each requiring a different type of catalyst: Purification, Pre-reforming, Primary Reforming, Secondary Reforming, Shift Conversion, and Methanation.
Feed Purification (desulfurization)
The desulfurization unit removes sulfur compounds from the incoming natural gas to prevent the formation of environmentally harmful sulfur oxides and to protect the reformer catalysts from contamination.
​
Envitrack offers a feed purification zinc oxide catalyst RCAT®-6405.
Pre-reforming
​
The goal of pre-reforming is to convert higher hydrocarbons like propane, butane, or naphtha into methane (CHâ‚„), enabling more efficient downstream reforming. This process operates at a lower temperature than primary reforming, typically around 700°C. The resulting gas mixture contains methane, water steam, carbon dioxide, and inert gases.
​
Our RCAT®-4100Tab nickel oxide catalyst is the perfect option for the pre-reforming process.
_5%20(1).png)
_1%20(1)_edited.jpg)
Primary Reforming
​
Primary reforming is the main step in the entire process, where methane reacts with water to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide. This highly endothermic reaction requires significant heat input to maintain a steady temperature. Optimal conditions for steam methane reforming are temperatures between 800°C and 900°C and medium pressures of 20-30 bar. A high excess of steam is required, expressed by the (molar) steam-to-carbon (S/C) ratio. Typical S/C ratio values lie within the range of 2.5:1 - 3:1.
Envitrack provides a range of catalysts for primary reforming: RCAT®-3312, RCAT®-3313, alkali promoted RCAT®-3320 and RCAT®-3321.
Shift Conversion
​
In the two-stage recovery section, carbon monoxide from the secondary reformer is converted into useful hydrogen and carbon dioxide through the water-gas shift reaction, using water steam. This process occurs in both high and low temperature shift stages. Since the reaction is exothermic, operating at lower temperatures shifts the equilibrium towards hydrogen.
High Temperature Shift
​
During high temperature shift the plants operate in the temperature range of 350-500°C.​​ For high temperature shift use our RCAT®-HTS.
Low Temperature Shift
​
In the low temperature shift reactor, the temperature of the bed does not exceed 250°C.​ For low temperature shift we can provice our RCAT®-LTS.​
_edited.jpg)
_01%20(3)_edited_edite.jpg)
Methanation
​
Methanation involves the hydrogenation of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide into methane and water. This step is crucial for preventing the downstream catalysts for ammonia synthesis from temporary deactivation.
We provide a nickel based catalyst for the methanation process RCAT®-3202.