SOEC Unit for CO Production Capacity Expansion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Steam reforming based CO production facilities face limitations in increasing carbon monoxide production due to carbon formation on catalysts and heat transfer constraints, requiring significant investments and downtime for capacity expansion.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) stack to convert low-pressure CO2 into CO with minimal additional investment and downtime, utilizing external heaters and heat exchangers to manage high-temperature operations and integrate CO2 recycling, thereby boosting CO production capacity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If steam reforming capacity is increased to produce additional CO, then CO production increases, but investment cost, downtime, and facility complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the steam reforming unit with a CO2 removal unit and an SOEC unit into an integrated system. The CO2 removed from reformer effluent is fed to the SOEC where it is converted back to CO, which is then recycled to the reformer. This merging of functions allows CO production enhancement without proportionally increasing overall facility complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of discarding the CO2 stream from the CO2 removal unit, the patent recycles it through the SOEC to convert it back into CO. This recovered CO is then fed back to the reformer, effectively recovering what would otherwise be waste and using it to enhance CO production without requiring additional external CO sources or major facility expansions.
2Productivity
If steam reforming is operated at low H2/CO ratio to suppress hydrogen production, then CO concentration increases, but carbon formation on catalysts increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts CO2 from the reformer effluent using a CO2 removal unit positioned between the reformer and the recycle compressor. By removing CO2 at this intermediate stage, the system can adjust the H2/CO ratio in the recycle stream independently of the reformer operating conditions, allowing the reformer to operate at optimal conditions without excessive carbon formation while still achieving high CO concentration in the final product.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables incremental CO business opportunities with reduced load on existing units and minimal modifications, achieving 5-99% CO2 conversion to CO without altering CO2 compression or syngas generation loads, while managing heat loss and degradation through efficient temperature control.
Implementation Method 1
CO2 is led to the fuel side of the stack with an applied current and excess oxygen is transported to the oxygen side of the stack
Implementation Method 2
utilizing external heaters and heat exchangers to manage high-temperature operations
Data Source
AI summary
The invention concerns a process for producing carbon monoxide (CO) from a feed stream comprising carbon dioxide (CO2) and natural gas and/or naphtha the process comprising a syngas generation step, a CO2 removal step and a CO purification step and the process further comprises an SOEC unit which produces CO from a CO2 stream, the process is especially suited for increasing the capacity of existing known CO production plants.