Experimental and theoretical study of associated petroleum gas processing into normalized gas by soft steam reforming

• Published in: Theoretical foundations of chemical engineering Vol. 51; no. 1; pp. 12 - 26
• Main Authors: Kirillov, V. A., Amosov, Yu. I., Shigarov, A. B., Kuzin, N. A., Kireenkov, V. V., Parmon, V. N., Aristovich, Yu. V., Gritsay, M. A., Svetov, A. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Associated natural gas; Calorific value; Carbon dioxide; Catalysis; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Electric power plants; Flammability; Gas pipelines; Gases; Homology; Hydrocarbons; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Mathematical analysis; Mathematical models; Methane; Natural gas; New technology; Nuclear fuels; Numerical analysis; Reforming; Steam electric power generation; Wobbe index; associated petroleum gas; methane homologues; soft steam reforming; process flowsheet; catalyst; mathematical modeling; normalized gas; pilot unit; tubular reactor
• ISSN: 0040-5795; 1608-3431
• DOI: 10.1134/S0040579517010110

The article presents the results of experimental investigation and mathematical modeling of a new technology for converting associated petroleum gas to a normalized combustible gas that can be used in gas turbine and gas reciprocator power plants or, after removing part of the СО
2
, can be pipelined. The essence of the new technology is that the C2+ hydrocarbons contained in associated petroleum gas are converted by soft steam reforming into a gaseous fuel that consists mainly of methane and contains carbon dioxide and a small amount of hydrogen. This process increases the volume of the gas mixture and normalizes its heating value and Wobbe index to the standard characteristics of commercial natural gas (purified from СО
2
). The soft steam reforming technology has been tested on laboratory, pilot, and pre-commercial scales. A mathematical model has been developed for the process. A numerical analysis based on this model has demonstrated that, using this technology, it is possible to process associated petroleum gases varying widely in methane homologue concentrations in one tubular catalytic reactor.