Demonstration Plant for Distributed Production of Hydrogen from Steam Reforming of Methane

We describe and demonstrate a technique for the creation of highly intensified, highly integrated chemical plant. The process is implemented using Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger (PCHE) technology in which the fluid passages and vessels are etched into flat plates, with the plates being stacked and bonded to create highly integrated modules. The manufacturing technique allows extraordinary complexity in the routing of fluid streams through the process, thus enabling very high levels of process integration to be achieved without significant capital or plant volume penalty. The fine passages employed in the structure have characteristic dimensions of around 1 mm, thus promoting further process intensification especially in heat transfer.The PCHE technique produces scaleable modules ideally suited to a wide range of production capacities, from miniplant to world scale. In our work, we explore the concept of distributed manufacture based on miniplants, as espoused by Benson and Ponton more than 10 years ago. We believe this paradigm offers new capital-accessible opportunities for chemical processing in smaller and more isolated economies such as in Australia and in the developing countries.A pilot plant for the production of syngas or hydrogen by the reforming of natural gas with steam has been installed at the University of Sydney. The main plant module contains nine reactors, 10 combustors and 11 heat exchangers in a single integrated block. We describe the system in detail and the experimental set up for the operation and control of the system.