Hydrogen production from fluidized bed steam reforming of hydrocarbons

Steam reforming of methane, kerosene and heavy oil over a nickel/alumina co mmercial catalyst and other materials such as limestone, dolomite and iron ore, was studied using a 5 cm i.d. fluidized bed reactor. The effects of op erating parameters on conversion, hydrogen yield, product gas composition a nd elutriation of fine catalysts were investigated. It was found that a flu idized bed is flexible enough to handle various feedstocks, including hydro carbons heavier than naphtha, because it permits the addition of catalyst t o, or withdrawals of, coked catalyst from the bed. The yield of hydrogen ob tained from fluidized bed steam reforming of heavy oil at 800 degrees C ove r limestone was similar to that obtained over commercial nickel-based catal yst. This indicates that limestone could be a promising catalyst for the pr oduction of hydrogen from heavy oil. However, hydrogen yield decreased with reaction time in the experiments using the limestone catalyst. The main ca use of the decrease in hydrogen yield was elutriation of fine catalysts fro m the bed during the reaction.