A Haldor Topsoe alert alerted me to an interesting product that they call
SynCOR Hydrogen. Here is the text of that alert …
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Haldor Topsoe
June 25, 2020
Paving the way
to rapid decarbonizing results with SynCOR Hydrogen™ solutions
By Sandra Winter-Madsen
Need for decarbonization at acceptable cost
With the increasing worldwide focus on reducing carbon dioxide emissions,
industries need effective ways to make this happen – rapidly and at acceptable
cost. New chemical, refinery and steel projects need to take these concerns
into account in their design, while existing plants want to avoid the effects
of regulatory limitations on greenhouse gas emissions.
The costs and other penalties associated with CO2 emissions are almost certain
to proliferate and accelerate, and companies need to be ready to deal with
these new – and probably substantial – additional costs of doing business.
Furthermore, companies that reduce their CO2 footprints in innovative,
cost-effective ways will be able to benefit from sales of CO2 allowances, as
well as other additional revenue streams.
Blue hydrogen – ready now
“Blue hydrogen” is also an effective, near-term solution in the likely global
transition towards “green hydrogen” configurations in which hydrogen is
generated by renewable energy sources – thus doing away with carbon emissions
in the first place, and eliminating the need for costly remedial efforts.
Proven-technology advantages Topsoe blue hydrogen solutions – based on SynCOR™
autothermal reforming technology – provide the big benefits of substantial
CO2-reduction results at scale, via well-proven technology.
This is ideal for medium-to-large facilities, paving the way to big "bang
for the buck" decarbonizing results – here and now. Steam reforming is a
well-proven, thoroughly de-bugged technology that’s in widespread use
worldwide. Autothermal reforming results in higher CO2 capture percentages and
is more economical, and therefore has great potential for debottlenecking
existing facilities as well as configuring new, effective blue hydrogen
production plants.
The SynCOR™ process at the heart of SynCOR Hydrogen™ solutions ensures the
lowest cost of ownership currently available anywhere in the world, and is
supported by 100+ years of proven safety and reliability.
SynCOR Hydrogen™ solutions feature
capacities that make them an ideal technology for key industrial clusters in
need of cost-effective decarbonization capabilities
SynCOR™ installations with hydrogen
capacities close to 500,000 Nm3/hour have been in operation since 2006.
SynCOR™-based installations remove
CO2 directly from the synthesis gas stream at high pressure, paving the way to
95+% capture rates
Opportunities for higher profit margins
Topsoe SynCOR Hydrogen™ solutions mean refineries using produced hydrogen in
their processes reap the financial benefits of new-plant compliance with future
CO2 emissions limits (e.g. RED II in the EU). With the phasing in of the new EU
CertifHy hydrogen certification scheme, companies producing and selling
hydrogen will also be able to benefit from premium hydrogen prices.
Other benefits include lower requirements for feedstocks and water, thus
reducing supply-chain vulnerabilities as well as pushing back operating costs.
Cost-effective future-proofing
SynCOR Hydrogen™ solutions make it entirely feasible to capture more than 95%
of the CO2 emissions from your chemical plant, refinery or steel plant
operations.
This provides you with a rapid-acting, cost-effective way to future-proof your
facilities – whether existing or on the drawing board.
source: https://blog.topsoe.com/paving-the-way-to-rapid-decarbonizing-results-with-syncor-hydrogen-solutions?utm_medium=email&_hsmi=90206451&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9Wt05Fk4n1h7KTJ_w-IkZ7X0VveVwUzjzkMqQm4_BEhONNZCSuYnX3NB-GiySUZsebmRIhmW16JFBH1gTdIsK800rShA&utm_content=90206451&utm_source=hs_email
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TIP: For
more detail on the process, Google® syncor ammonia
One result is the following Haldor Topsoe white paper …
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Chemical Engineering World
Ammonia
Production can be More Smart, Safe & Profitable
Merethe Kjul Hoffmann
Technology Marketing Manager, MSc
Haldor Topsoe
This article talks about brand new technology for the production of ammonia,
primarily for fertilizer.
The ammonia and fertilizer industries are changing as the drive for smart
industrial solutions that exploit feedstocks in an optimal way continues to
intensify. Natural resources must be utilized in the best possible way to
secure profitability and reduce environmental impact, but advances have been
scarce in the very mature ammonia production technology. Nonetheless, a new
solution based on SynCOR synthesis gas technology widely used in the gas –to liquids
industry offers the ammonia industry an opportunity to produce ammonia in a
smarter, safer and more profitable way - with significantly reduced
environmental impact.
The new solution is based on autothermal reforming for the production of syngas
in ammonia plants and thereby challenges conventional tubular reforming. The
technology brings significant benefits in large-scale applications, most
notably an extremely low steam-to-carbon ratio of 0.6 and capacities above
6,000 MTPD in single-train plants. This enables ammonia and urea producers to
gain significant economies of scale that cannot be achieved with conventional
technology.
Catalyst induced a technology shift
Conventional ammonia plants use a high temperature shift
followed by a low temperature shift. A standard high temperature shift uses an
iron /chromiumbased catalyst, which demands a minimum operating steam-to-carbon
ratio of 2.6. That changed with Topsoe's introduction of the first commercial
iron-free high temperature shift catalyst (SK-501 Flex). This catalyst is based
on promoted zinc aluminum spinel, which can operate at very low steam-to-carbon
ratios at typical high temperature shift conditions , but without the risk of
mechanical integrity or by-products associated with iron/chromium catalysts.
The zinc aluminum catalyst opens up new possibilities for ammonia producers, as
they can reduce their plants' steam -to-carbon ratio significantly with
Topsoe's SynCOR Ammonia process.
This solution may be a new opportunity in ammonia
production, but the technology is well-proven in other industrial applications,
especially within gas-to-liquids. SynCOR Ammonia is based on stand-alone
autothermal reforming by oxygen and uses well-known and industrially proven
process steps and equipment. Today, the combined industrial operation of SynCOR
units exceeds 70 years, and the technology has demonstrated availability
factors greater than 99% as an average over operating periods longer than five
years.
Due to the introduction of the new shift catalyst, the
operating conditions are quite different from the conditions in conventional
ammonia plants. With only 0.6 steam-to-carbon ratio, the shift section is
limited by the low water content to perform the shift reaction, to achieve an
acceptable CO slip, and at the same time minimize the formation of by-products.
However, an efficient solution to deal with this low
water content, is the introduction of a second shift operated at medium to high
temperature in combination with recirculation of steam from the process
condensate stripper . Depending on the specific requirement, the second shift
catalyst can be SK-501 Flex or a copper-based catalyst.
After the shift section, by-products are condensed out
together with process condensate. The solution reduces the well-known problem
of especially methanol entering the CO2 removal section in conventional process
layouts. The process condensate and washing water, which contains the shift by
-products, flows to a process condensate stripper that strips off practically
all shift by-products.
The stripper steam containing the shift byproducts is
recycled to the inlet of the high temperature shift section.
Less and smaller equipment reduce cost
From a cost perspective, it is critically important to
stay within commercially available standard sizes for equipment and piping, no
matter the size of the plant. Exceeding standards limits the number of possible
vendors and increases cost.
SynCOR Ammonia operates at a steamto-carbon ratio of
0.6, which reduces steam throughput by 80% compared to conventional plants. In
combination with an inert-free ammonia synthesis, this makes it possible to
significantly reduce the size of piping and equipment throughout the plant. It
also enables the use of a single ammonia converter operating at single pressure
.
The process uses a standard commercial CO2 removal unit.
However, the CO2 absorber is relatively smaller than for conventional design
because nitrogen is added further downstream.
After the CO2 removal section, remaining CO2 and H2O is
removed in a synthesis gas drier unit. Then CH4, Ar and CO is removed in a
nitrogen wash, in which N2 is admitted to the synthesis gas to adjust the
hydrogen-to -nitrogen ratio to the level required by the ammonia synthesis. The
result is an inert-free synthesis gas, which makes methanation, purge gas
ammonia wash, and hydrogen recovery units obsolete and significantly reduces
sizes of high-pressure equipment and piping. Furthermore, less power for
recycling compressors is needed. The simplified process scheme translates
directly into CAPEX and OPEX savings.
The inert-free synthesis loop uses a single S-300
ammonia converter in a standard, well-proven Topsoe ammonia synthesis loop with
single pressure level. The required converter size is already referenced.
Figure 1 shows the main process steps, and table 1
provides a comparison of the main differences between a conventional plant and
SynCOR Ammoniaâ.
Economies of scale
The scaling exponent relating to the CAPEX cost of a
plant has huge impact on economies of scale and Total Cost of Ownership in the
plant's lifetime. SynCOR has a very advantageous scaling exponent in comparison
with conventional tubular steam reforming and is referenced within the full
capacity range to above 6,000 MTPD ammonia.Tubular steam reforming is beyond
reference above 3,500 MTPD. See figure 2 for a comparison.
The SynCOR technology is competitive from well inside
the conventional tubular steam reforming capacities and becomes the preferred
choice at large capacities because of its referenced single line capacity above
3,500 MTPD and significant economies of scale.
Production cost in large-scale single train plants is
reduced by a combination of attractive scaling exponent, reduced steam
throughput, inert -free ammonia synthesis, and reduced sizes of piping and
equipment. Due to the differences in scaling exponents and CAPEX cost, SynCOR
Ammoniaâ„¢ becomes increasingly competitive the higher the capacity and the
result can be two -digit savings per ton in production cost.
Environment and Safety
SynCOR Ammonia significantly improves environmental
impact, personal safety and process reliability and has the potential to bring
down the number of lost production days.
The overall energy consumption figures for SynCOR
Ammonia is up to 3% lower than for conventional designs. In addition, electric
power for the air separation unit can be obtained from sustainable energy
sources, which will reduce CO2 emissions per ton of product considerably. The
total reduction of CO2 emissions from natural gas firing and sustainable power
sources amount to 30%, when assuming 100% conversion into urea.
NOx emissions are more than 50% lower compared to
conventional tubular steam reforming plants.
Another safety benefit is gained from the SK-501 Flex
catalyst because it is completely free from chromium, most notably the highly
toxic hexavalent chromium found in all iron-based high temperature shift
catalysts in the market. This helps plants to avoid the potential risk that
hexavalent chromium poses to personnel safety and to the environment during
product handling, operation and disposal.
Ammonia producers can also achieve cost reductions as
well as safety benefits from the high degree of automation in the SynCOR
Ammonia process. The difference in fieldwork from large scale tubular reforming
can be as much as two to three persons in favor of SynCOR. Automation enables
remote operation that can lead to fewer human errors and higher efficiency.
The autothermal reactor itself requires no fieldwork
during operation, and, typically, a simple plant walk-through per work shift is
all that is needed to perform surface monitoring. Alternatively, camera
surveillance can replace this.
SynCOR Ammonia incorporates a complete integrated Safety
Integrated System (SIS), which guides plant operators and ensures safe
operation at all times. The number of Lost Time Incidents is reduced, simply
because less people are prone to accidents. Fieldwork is turned into control
room work with more time spent proactively optimizing performance. The result
is a higher general safety level and a better bottom line.
Key benefits of SynCOR in ammonia production
Significant economies of scale - single trains at large capacities
More than 3% lower operational expenses - 3% lower energy consumption
Reduced environmental impact – up to 30% lower CO2 emissions, more than 50%
lower NOx emissions, and up to 50% reduction of make-up water consumption
Increased safety - high degree of automation reduces manual fieldwork
significantly
source: https://www.cewindia.com/merethe_features.html
///////
Google® Better!
Jean Steinhardt served as Librarian,
Aramco Services, Engineering Division, for 13 years. He now heads Jean
Steinhardt Consulting LLC, producing the same high quality research that he
performed for Aramco.
Follow Jean’s blog at: http://desulf.blogspot.com/ for continuing tips on effective online
research
Email Jean at research@jeansteinhardtconsulting.com with questions on research, training, or
anything else
Visit Jean’s Web site at http://www.jeansteinhardtconsulting.com/ to see examples of the services we can
provid
Conferences and COVID-19 have a stormy relationship. CRU Sulphur is doing its
best to provide relationship counseling to the two parties by offering both a
conventional live event plus a corresponding virtual event.
Toward that end, CRU has issued a call for papers for the virtual event. Submit your abstract by Friday 14 August 2020.
Here is the text of the email that landed in my inbox …
///////
I hope you are keeping safe and well in
these challenging times. Given the uncertainty around international travel and
social distancing as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, CRU are excited to
announce a virtual event which will run alongside CRU Sulphur + Sulphuric Acid
Conference from 2-4 November 2020.
It is still our intention to run a live event in November 2020, but by offering
a virtual platform in addition to the live event, we will continue to provide
the essential annual forum for the global sulphur and acid community to learn
and network.
More than just a webinar, the virtual event will act as a “digital twin” of the
live event, incorporating a two-day, dual-streamed agenda of technical papers;
a virtual exhibition for meeting with technical experts and sourcing solutions;
and integrated networking including live video, audio and text chat,
interactive discussion groups, and a meeting scheduler.
Key benefits of the virtual offering:
The virtual event provides a complement to the live event
It enables our community to connect - irrespective of any travel restrictions
The virtual platform will connect with a wider, more global audience
Interaction is built into the platform, with live Q&A, ask the experts, and
live audio, video and text chat functionality
The virtual platform provides participants with the flexibility to access
high-quality content, live and on-demand
Access from anywhere: The platform requires no download, and is
mobile-friendly, allowing you to join anytime, anywhere
Full details of the features and benefits, as well as demonstration videos will
be available in the coming months, so make sure you register to receive updates
so you are kept informed of the latest developments.
Call for papers now open: Submit your abstract by
Friday 14 August
The call for papers for 2020 is now open. This
year you can submit an abstract for the virtual event only. This ensures
the inclusion of authors and presenters who may otherwise be unable to attend
the live event due to travel restrictions.
Submit your abstract at www.sulphurabstracts.com
by 14 August 2020.
We welcome abstracts from all organisations, but papers authored or co-authored
by operating companies will be given priority on the programme.
Abstracts should address one or more of the selection criteria:
Operational problems and their solutions
Operational experience
Novelty
Objectivity
To discuss an abstract or paper idea in more detail, please feel free to
contact me by email at amanda.whicher@crugroup.com
For more information on sponsorship and exhibition opportunities, please
contact michelle.bingham@crugroup.com
We look forward to working with you on a successful edition of CRU Sulphur +
Sulphuric Acid 2020 Live & Virtual Conference.
Best regards,
Amanda Whicher
Portfolio Director
CRU Events
///////
TIP: Since
the selection criteria in the above email are somewhat vague, consider Googling®
operational
sulfur to get some ideas as to how to frame your abstract.
Some results from the search …
///////
The
IMO 2020 Sulfur Cap in the United States: Compliance ...
www.maritime-executive.com › editorials › the-imo-20...
Mar 19, 2019 - The International Maritime Organization (IMO) sulphur cap
is fast ... While the operational aspects of the new regulations have
come into ...
(SOSA) process: The effects of sulfur-cycle ... -
NCBI
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › pubmed
Jun 22, 2019 - A new sulfidogenic oxic-settling anaerobic (SOSA) process: The
effects of sulfur-cycle bioaugmentation on the operational
performance, sludge ...
by H Huang - 2019 - Cited by 5
- Related
articles
Sulfur Poisoning of SOFCs:Dependence on Operational
...
iopscience.iop.org › article › pdf
Mar 11, 2020 - Sulfur species are major impurities in practical
hydrocarbon-based fuels, chemisorption of which on Ni anode catalysts results
in possible ...
by T Yoshizumi - Cited by 16
- Related
articles
Operation performance and microbial community of
sulfur ...
link.springer.com › article
Jan 2, 2020 - Operation performance and bacterial community structure of
sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification (SAD) based on different sulfur
sources ...
by C Fu - Related
articles
Missing: operational | Must include: operational
Influence of
operating conditions and the role of sulfur in the ...
www.researchgate.net › publication › 222059040_Influen...
Download Citation | Influence of operating conditions and the role of sulfur
in the formation of aerosols from biomass combustion | The properties of the
fine ...
Design and Operation of a Sulfur
Supply Chain for Sour Gas ...
pubs.acs.org › doi › full
Sep 17, 2014 - This was applied to two scenarios, which are steady state operation
and sulfur surplus accumulation. The results for the investigated case
study ...
by M Elsholkami - 2014 - Cited by 2
- Related
articles
Sulfur Processing Operations during
Startup, Shutdown, and ...
www.protreat.com › files › publications
PDF
The present work is a case study of the startup, shutdown, and turndown operations
of a refinery gas treating and sulfur processing train and focuses on
changing ...
Impacts of the Increasingly Strict
Sulfur Limit on Compliance ...
www.mdpi.com › pdf
PDF
Dec 24, 2019 - air pollutants from shipping activities, the Sulfur cap
regulation of 0.5% ... future operational cost for newbuilding vessels
based on a case study.
by L Fan - 2020 - Related
articles
///////
Google® Better!
Jean Steinhardt served as Librarian,
Aramco Services, Engineering Division, for 13 years. He now heads Jean
Steinhardt Consulting LLC, producing the same high quality research that he
performed for Aramco.
Follow Jean’s blog at: http://desulf.blogspot.com/ for continuing tips on effective online
research
Email Jean at research@jeansteinhardtconsulting.com with questions on research, training, or
anything else
Visit Jean’s Web site at http://www.jeansteinhardtconsulting.com/ to see examples of the services we can
provide
