Since 1990, the cost of hydrogen needed to treat one barrel of oil has increased from 10 cents to $1. This problem is being exacerbated because of stricter environmental regulations and because the crude now being processed by refiners contains less hydrogen and more sulfur. To deal with the hydrogen shortage, most large refineries have outsourced their hydrogen generating capacities to industrial gas companies that uses natural gas as the feedstock. As a solution to the refinery hydrogen problem, this project will employ a superadiabatic autothermal process for producing hydrogen from free and inexpensive feedstocks that are readily available to refiners. As a non-catalytic process, the proposed reactor will create a high-temperature volume with a long residence time to reform the most complex of hydrocarbon fuels.
Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: By shifting the burden of refinery hydrogen from increasingly expensive and imported natural gas to inexpensive feeds and wastes, a savings of three cents in hydrogen cost for processing a gallon of gasoline or diesel could be achieved. A savings of even one cent would leave more than $5 billion in the hands of consumers. Furthermore, over 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could be returned to industrial and commercial uses.
