Hydrogen Driving Costs Down through

Expert Design and Leading Technology

September 19th & 20th, 2012 RRTC Moscow
Luigi Bressan Director of Process & Technologies
Giuliana Azzaro Senior Process Engineer, Hydrogen Technology Group
 Agenda

The hydrogen production plant

The Foster Wheeler Terrace WallTM steam reformer
Hydrogen plant optimization design steps
Conclusions

Foster Wheeler 2012. All rights reserved 1

The hydrogen production plant

Foster Wheeler 2012. All rights reserved 2

 The Hydrogen Production Plant

Steam methane reforming (SMR) continues to be the leading technology for

hydrogen generation
Although SMR is a mature technology, incremental economic improvements
are being made by continuous development
The plants consist of four basic sections:
1. Treatment to remove sulphur traces and other contaminants
2. Steam methane reformer, which converts feedstock and steam to syngas
at high temperature and moderate pressure
3. CO shift reactor/s to increase hydrogen yield
4. Hydrogen purification, in which modern plants use a pressure swing
adsorption (PSA) unit to achieve the final product purity
5. In addition to the core process sections, compression is often needed to
raise the feedstock and product hydrogen pressures.

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 The Hydrogen Production Plant

Steam

Steam drum Hydrogen

Deaerator

PSA

Hydrogenator Terrace WallTM CW

Desulphurise steam reformer
r Pre-reforming

Shift reactor

Comb. air

Air Waste heat boiler

preheating Make-up water
Natural gas

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 The Hydrogen Production Plant

Refineries can use different feedstock, subject to internal price and

availability:
Natural gas
Refinery gas
LPG
Light naphtha
Heavy naphtha
. and even straight-run naphtha
Optimising hydrogen plant design and operating parameters
depends on the economic values attributed to the
feedstock, fuel and steam

The characteristics of the feedstock will define

the processing capabilities of the plant
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 The Hydrogen Production Plant

The optimum is achieved by minimising :

(Feedstock(Gcal/h) + Fuel(Gcal/h) Steam(Gcal/h) ) / H2 flowrate
where steam is the net export flow rate of steam from the plant

With the proposed scheme, a net thermal efficiency of less than

3.0 Gcal per Nm3 of produced hydrogen can be achieved when
starting from natural gas

The economical optimum is achieved by minimising:

(Feedstock*CostFeedstock + Fuel*CostFuel Steam*ValueSteam) / H2 flow

Accurate pricing of feed, fuel and steam allows a fit-for-purpose

design for the hydrogen plant

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 The Foster Wheeler
Terrace WallTM Steam Reformer

Foster Wheeler 2012. All rights reserved 7

 The Foster Wheeler Terrace WallTM Steam Reformer

Slightly
Sloped
Upward Walls
Firing
Burners

Two Firing
Levels for
Uniform
Heat Input

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 The Foster Wheeler Terrace WallTM Steam Reformer

Terrace Wall TM main process features

Side-fired heater with burners located along lateral walls with flames
vertically arranged.

Radiant section comprising a firebox with a single row of catalyst

tubes with two terraces on both sides of the tubes on which the
burners are installed.

Catalyst tubes are flanged at the top to allow loading and unloading
of the catalyst.

Heat is supplied via ultra-low-NOX burners (forced or natural draft)

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 The Foster Wheeler Terrace WallTM Steam Reformer

Terrace Wall TM main process features

Burners are placed at two different levels in the combustion
chamber, equipped with a double set of firing tips, one for refinery
fuel gas and one for vent gas from the PSA unit
Each terrace can be independently heated to provide the
particular heat flux desired in its zone
Controlled delivery of heat helps control hotspots, maximising
tube life
The incline of the wall maximises the effectiveness of the terrace
to that portion of the heat-absorbing surface
Flame impingement on catalyst tubes is practically impossible in
the Terrace WallTM design

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 The Foster Wheeler Terrace WallTM Steam Reformer

Terrace Wall TM main process features

Temp vs Distance Down Tube Heat Flux vs. Distance Down Tube
Temperature

Heat Flux

Distance Down Tube Distance Down Tube

Process Fluid Terrace Wall TMT Terrace Wall Top Fired Radiant Wall Fired
Top (Side
Log. Fired TMT
Fired TMT)
T Radiant Fired TMT

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 The Foster Wheeler Terrace WallTM Steam Reformer

Terrace Wall TM main process features

Outlet pigtails arranged vertically providing better access for easier
welding and nipping, removing need for a cold bottom flange for
catalyst removal
Vacuum-type catalyst removal systems allow removal of catalyst via
the tube inlet flange
Reduces number of burners by c30% due to increased capacity, with
new burners using staged fuel and air combustion techniques for
lower NOx emissions
Process gas boiler is natural circulation type, located at grade level in
the middle of the radiant cell, avoiding need for a transfer line.

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 The Foster Wheeler Terrace WallTM Steam Reformer

Building Block Design INCREASE

CELL LENGTH
Convection section
For larger units
suited for any
steam production
SINGLE CELL
Low H2
production

Add auxilliary
burners for
maximum steam
production TWIN CELL
High H2
production
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 The Foster Wheeler Terrace WallTM Steam Reformer

Modular Design & Assembly

Modules include all components from

inlet manifold to outlet manifold

Increases productivity

Improves quality & schedule

Shippable by truck

Minimises high alloy field welds

Reduces erection time & costs

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 The Foster Wheeler Terrace WallTM Steam Reformer

Simple, Safe & Reliable

Simplicity
Start up on natural draft
Easy and safe light-off of all burners
Natural draft capability
Simple manifold system

Nipping in operation
Extend run length
Operations & maintenance
Clear outboard access to burners
Good visibility of catalyst tubes
Good visibility of burner flames

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 The Foster Wheeler Terrace WallTM Steam Reformer

.. and in summary

Long tube and catalyst life

Natural draft capability

Low net power consumption

Optimized radiant design

Reduced plot area

Extended modular construction

and we continue to develop our design to

deliver further performance enhancements

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Hydrogen Plant Optimization -
The Design Steps

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 Hydrogen Plant Optimization

Evaluation of client design basis and

specific requirements

Hydrogen quality
Feed quality, characteristics and cost
Fuel quality, characteristics and cost
Utilities characteristics, costs and
availabilty
Site constraints
Layout limitations

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 Hydrogen Plant Optimization

Selection of optimum plant configuration

Purification steps

Integration of pre-reforming

Selection of S/C ratio and shift technology

Selection of steam reformer outlet temperature

Pressure profile analysis

...... The optimum plant configuration is the one that minimizes OPEX
with acceptable level of CAPEX

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 Hydrogen Plant Optimization
Case 1 = steam value 85% fuel cost
Case 2 = steam value 115% fuel cost
10200
10100
10000
9900
Operating costs ($/h)

MTS
9800 case 2
9700
HTS+LTS
9600 case 2

9500 MTS
case 1
9400
9300 HTS+LTS
case 1
9200
9100
0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.00

Fuel/Feed price
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 Hydrogen Plant Optimization

Optimization of selected configuration

Detailed simulation with adequate software

Pinch analysis
Review of design alternatives with NPV
Optimization of plant pressure profile
HSE review (safeguarding philosophy)
Control system definition
Evaluation of turndown cases for both plant and fired heater
performance perspective
Regular contacts with catalyst vendors
Careful evaluation of PSA parameters and performances

.....each plant parameter is deeply analyzed and then selected

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 Hydrogen Plant Optimization

Evaluation of H2 production costs and their variation

with economics parameters
Technical Parameters
Plant size 100,000 Nm3/h
Feed/Fuel type Natural gas
Plant configuration Pre-reformer, MTS, A/P @ 520 C,
S/C=2.2

Economical Parameters
Plant Cost 114 MM$
IRR ( full equity) 10
Plant life 15 years
Feed/Fuel cost 4/8/12 $/MMBTU
Steam credit 0.9 feed/fuel cost
Other Parameters Taxes= 20%, Inflation=2%
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 Hydrogen Plant Optimization

160
OPEX/CAPEX trend (plant life 15 years) vs. feed cost

140
~ 135 Euro/1000Nm3

120

~ 100 Euro/1000Nm3
H2 Cost [Euro/1000 Nm3]

100

CAPEX
80
FIXED COST
OPEX
~ 60 Euro/1000Nm3
60

40

20

0
FEED 4 $/Mmbtu IRR 10 FEED 8 $/Mmbtu IRR 10 FEED 12 $/Mmbtu IRR 10

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Conclusions

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 Hydrogen plant optimization

Our Strengths

In-house SMR furnace expertise to ensure optimum selection of

process parameters, integration of overall plant and reformer
design

Dedicated team of process engineers focused on H2 technology

development the Hydrogen Technology Group

Optimized plant and operating parameters tailored to customers

requirements and total life cycle reduction

Identification of the best hydrogen configuration through evaluation

of economic/performance criteria

25
 Conclusions

There is no unique solution for designing a high performance

hydrogen plant
Client-specific requirements may affect the final plant configuration
Feed, fuel, steam values are of paramount importance for selecting the
best plant configuration (electric power and cooling water can also be
considered)

... the lowest net energy solution may not provide the lowest-cost
solution
Foster Wheeler designs your hydrogen plant to ensure that the highest
performance, as well as the most cost-effective solution, is achieved

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