This is a presentation on the design of plant for producing 20 million standard cubic feet per day (0.555 × 106 standard m3/day) of hydrogen (H2) of at least 95% purity from heavy fuel oil (HFO) with an upstream time of 7680 hours/year applying the process of partial oxidation of the heavy oil feedstock.

1. PRODUCTION OF20 MILLION STANDARD CUBIC
FEET PER DAY (0.515 X 106 STANDARD M3/DAY) OF
HYDROGEN OF AT LEAST 95 PER CENT PURITY
HYDROGEN FROM HEAVY FUEL OIL FEEDSTOCKS
B Y
OLANREWAJU, ADEBAYO
BAMIDELE
ADEBAYOOLANREWAJU206@GMAIL.COM
+234 (0) 7037710839

2. Introduction
General overview of H2
 Hydrogen is a
 colourless,
 odourless,
 tasteless,
 flammable gaseous substance that is the simplest member of
the family of chemical elements.
 Present in all animal and vegetable tissue and in petroleum.
 Manufacture of ammonia and others

3. Introduction contd.
H2 Demand
 World consumption of both captive and merchant hydrogen will
increase 3.5% annually through 2018 to more than 300billion cubic
meters.

4. Introduction contd.
 Hydrogen Uses

5. Introduction contd.
Methods of preparation
 Partial Oxidation (POX)
 It involves an intimate coupling of several complex chemical
reaction of hydrocarbon feed with oxygen at high temperatures to
produce a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
 The partial oxidation reaction mechanism involves exothermic,
partial combustion of a portion of a hydrocarbon feed which
supplies heat to the endothermic steam cracking of the balance of
the feed.
 Besides carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen
sulfide, and other trace impurities, partial oxidation produces
soot in non-equilibrium amounts.
 Since the high temperature takes the place of a catalyst, POX is
not limited to the light, clean feedstocks required for steam
reforming.

6. Method of Preparation contd.
 Others include:
 Advanced Cracking Reaction (ACR)
 Catalytic Partial Oxidation
 Thermochemical (High-temperature) Water Splitting.

7. Feedstock for H2 Production
 Natural Gas
 Refinery Gas
 Liquid Feeds (LPG & Naphtha)
 Heavy Fuel Oil

8. DISCUSSION
 Process Design
1. Preparation of a mass balance diagram for the entire plant,
2. Preparation of an energy balance diagram of the flame
reactor and the associated waste heat boiler,
3. Preparation of a Process flow diagram of the entire plant.

9. Discussion contd.
 Mass Balance

10. Discussion contd.
 Material Balance Basis
 In order to perform the material balance calculations, an
assumed basis of 1000 kg of Heavy Fuel Oil feed was selected.

11. Discussion contd.
 From the above, and as calculated on appendix 1, the production
rate was found to be 4.041x108m3/hr.
 Hence, the rate of flow of CO, CO2, N2 into the conversion
system were found to be 4040918m3/hr, 4040918m3/hr and
8081836m3/hr. respectively.
 While CO, CO2 coming out of the quencher were calculated to
242,455,080 m3 and 47,913,742 m3 respectively.
 Also, the amount of CO converted is 238,414,162 m3. Then, H2,
CH4 out of the converter were found to be 271,318,780 m3 and
57,727m3 respectively.
 Finally, the amount of H2 produced in the converter was found
to be 1.329 x 108m3.

12. Discussion contd.
 Energy Balance
 Energy Balance Diagram for the Flame Reactor and the Associated Waste
Heat Boiler (WHB).


13. Energy Balance Contd.
 The values of the material streams indicated were
extracted from the mass balance diagram discussed
earlier.
 As indicated in the diagram the mass of steam
produced by waste heat boiler was estimated to be
7930.95kg while energy of the crude gas leaving the
waste heat boiler is 4.537 x 1011 kJ.
 The energy required to produce steam by the waste
heat boiler was estimated to be 22,325,624.25 kJ.

14. Discussion contd.
 Process Flow Diagram
• The Preliminary Block Flow Diagram

15. Discussion contd.
 Equipment Schedule for the CO Conversion Section of
the Plant
1. Introduction
• In order to meet the production capacity as stated in the process
description, the process is scheduled to run all day long (24hrs
of the day).
• The following are the various utilities and items of equipment
involved in the CO conversion section of the plant:
• Utilities: Heat supply, Potassium Carbonate (K2CO3), Catalyst
(chromium-promoted iron oxide catalyst), and steam.
• Items of Equipment: A saturator, 2 desaturators, catalyst vessel (2
catalyst beds), trays of iron oxide absorbent, 2 heat exchangers.

16. Discussion contd.
 Activity Definition/Sequencing

17. Mechanical Design of the Absorber
 Process Operation Conditions Specification.

18. Mechanical Design of the Absorber contd.
 Size Specification for the Shell and Catalytic Converter
Components.

19. Mechanical Design of the Absorber contd.
 Catalyst bed supports
1. It consists of two half circle frames made of alloy steel held together at the
centre by means of bolts to which wire gauze is fitted. The gauze pores will be
big enough to allow the passage of the gas but small enough to prevent the
catalyst particles from passing through it.
 Gas distribution
1. It consists of a conical shaped receiver connected to an elbow pipe which acts as a
means of re-directing the gas. The high pressure at which the gas is to be pumped
will make this erstwhile simple design effective.

20. Mechanical Design of the Absorber contd.
 Facilities for discharging and charging the catalyst
• The manholes provided by the design are to be used for charging the catalyst
while the catalyst discharge nozzle will facilitate in the catalyst discharge. The
nozzle is designed to taper for ease of collection of the catalyst particles. To push
the particles out of the vessels, compressed air is recommended.
• Choice of construction materials
o Due to the design of the vessel- the number of openings, branches and
the temperature regime expected the best choice for construction will be
alloy steels.
• Facilities for instrumentation
o They have been located to the site at which measurements (gas temperature and
pressure) are to be taken.

21. Control (Instrumentation) System Design
 Control of liquid level in the hot water circuit: Introduction of
additional tank which will act as a means to remove the
inevitable build-up of water in the circuit.
 The control the temperature levels in the converter, the flow of
the gas stream into the unit is manipulated.
 In the case of the failure of the control system, two solenoid
valves are provided to shut down the entire section by shutting
down the flow of material into the converter and into the whole
section itself.
 Also provided are high and low level alarms for both the
temperature control and the liquid level control.

22. HSE Considerations
 Wear leather safety gloves and safety shoes when handling
cylinders.
 Protect cylinders from physical damage; do not drag, roll, slide
or drop.
 While moving cylinder, always keep in place removable valve
cover. Never attempt to lift a cylinder by its cap; the cap is
intended solely to protect the valve.
 Keep away from heat, hot surfaces, sparks, open flames and
other ignition sources. There should be no smoking near the
plant. The use of only non-sparking tools is recommended.

23. CONCLUSION
I. The hydrogen to be produced according to the design work
carried out will be of approximately 96.6% purity which
exceeds the production benchmark of 95% purity for
hydrogen product stream.
II. In order to achieve the production target of 20 million
standard cubic feet of Hydrogen per year at 96.6% purity,
production capacity of 4.041x108m3/hr at the rate of
4.041x108m3/hr. of hydrogen, and oxygen (at 95% purity) are
required.
III. The amount of CO2 converted is 238,414,162 m3 and the
energy requirement of the plant is estimated to 4.537x 1011 kJ

24. Catalyst bed supports

25. Gas Distributor

26. CO Catalytic Convereter