TITLE:
Profitability Analysis of Selected Steam Methane Reforming Methods for Hydrogen Production
AUTHORS:
Chibuzor Chinweoke Okechukwu, Sunday Boladale Alabi
KEYWORDS:
Hydrogen, Steam Methane Reforming, Dry methane Reforming, Carbon Oxides
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Power and Energy Engineering,
Vol.10 No.8,
August
23,
2022
ABSTRACT: One of the matured
methods for producing hydrogen in bulk is steam methane reforming (SMR). The
two commercial aspects of producing hydrogen from SMR are SMR with shift
reactor (SR) and SMR with dry methane reforming (DRM). Although SMR with SR
produces high hydrogen yield, it emits a large quantity of carbon dioxide (CO2). On the contrary, SMR
and DRM produce low hydrogen yield but favorably emit a low quantity of CO2. However, it is not obvious which of these
methods is more favourable economically. Consequently, using UNISIM Software
Package, this study investigates three SMR methods namely SMR with SR, SMR with
DRM and SMR with the combination of DRM and SR for the purpose of determining
the most favourable route for producing hydrogen. This was done on the basis of
feedstock rate of 100 kmol/hr of methane which reacted with 250 kmol/hr of
steam for 8000 hrs annually using the rate of CO2 and CO emissions
(COx) and the plant net profit percentage as performance indices. The
profitability analysis shows that SMR/SR process is the most profitable process
with a net profit percentage of 41.3%. Moreover, SMR/SR process has the highest
yield and interestingly lowest COx emission rate. It is therefore
concluded that the most favourable process route, technically and economically,
is SMR/SR for the production of hydrogen using methane as feedstock.