Reference data and Supporting Literature Reviews for SMR Based Hydrogen Production with CCS

Publication Overview

Over the past years a number of demonstration CCS projects have been developed around the world with the aim to provide valuable information, assist in the design of large CO₂ capture plants and to advance the understanding of CO₂ behaviour in the subsurface. The objectives of the CCS demonstration projects can be summarized as follows:

• Demonstrating the technical feasibility of a particular technology
• Gaining operational experience and economic information
• Gathering data to support the development of large scale projects

The purpose of this technical review is to provide an overview of the major on-going Demo CCS projects applied to SMR Hydrogen Plants with a focus on the CO₂ capture system. In particular, the technical approach used for the design and execution of the Demo Plants and the relevant peculiarities are outlined.

Publication Summary

The following summarises the 4 CO₂ capture projects reviewed:

• Port Arthur Project (Air Products):

  The CO₂ removal Technology is retrofitted to the existing SMR Hydrogen plants (215 MM scfd H2 capacity) which produce hydrogen from natural gas to assist in the manufacture of petrochemicals and making of cleaner burning transportation fuels by refinery customers on the Gulf Coast hydrogen pipeline network.The project also includes a 30MW cogeneration unit to supply make up steam to the SMR’s and operate the VSA and compression equipment.

• QUEST Project (Shell)

  An absorber vessel will use an amine solvent to capture the CO₂ from the syngas of three Hydrogen Units, and then the CO₂ will be released from the amine by heating. The CO₂ will be compressed, dehydrated into a dense fluid and transported by pipeline to an injection location approximately 80 kilometres north of the Shell Scotford upgrader.The CO₂ will be stored permanently in a geological formation called Basal Cambrian Sands, located two kilometres below the surface of the earth.

• Tomakomai Project (METI of Japan, JCCS)

  The Hydrogen Production Unit (HPU) at Idemitsu Kosan’s Hokkado Refinery supplies PSA off gas to a new-build capture plant via a pipeline.

  At the capture plant, gaseous CO₂ of 99% purity will be produced by an amine scrubbing process at a rate of 100,000 tonnes per annum or more from the PSA off gas. The plant design is based on 200,000 tonnes maximum per annum.

  The CO₂ removal technology utilized in Tomakomai Project is an absorption process via amine solvent where the carbon dioxide to be removed from the gas stream chemically reacts with the solvent forming new product components. The reaction is reversed and the acid gases are released during the solvent regeneration process.

   The gaseous CO₂ will then be sent to the CO₂ injection facility next to the capture plant where it is compressed and injected into two different offshore reservoirs by two deviated injection wells.

• Port Jerome Project (Air Liquide)

  Air Liquide has developed its Cryocap ^TM H₂ technology in order to capture CO₂ from the PSA Tails gas (off gas).

  This technology uses cryogenic purification to separate the CO ₂ from the off gas of the PSA. This is followed by membrane separation in order to simultaneously increase the CO₂ capture rate and the SMR productivity as hydrogen recovery from syngas is increased.