Proposed are a process and a plant for producing a hydrogen- and carbon oxides-containing synthesis gas by partial noncatalytic oxidation of a fluid or fluidizable carbon-containing input stream of fossil origin as a first input stream in the presence of an oxygen-containing oxidant and optionally a moderator to obtain a CO-rich raw synthesis gas. According to the invention a second input stream including a pyrolysis oil obtained from biomass is reacted simultaneously with the first input stream in the noncatalytic partial oxidation.

The invention relates to a catalytic process for upgrading a renewable crude oil produced from biomass and/or waste comprising providing a renewable crude oil and pressurizing it to a pressure in the range in the range 60 to 150 bar, contacting the pressurized renewable crude oil with hydrogen and at least one heterogeneous catalyst contained in a first reaction zone at a weight based hourly space velocity (WHSV) in the range 0.1 to 2.0 h.sub.−1 and at a temperature in the range of 150° C. to 360° C., hereby providing a partially upgraded renewable crude oil, separating the partially upgraded renewable crude oil from the first reaction zone to a partially upgraded heavy renewable oil fraction, a partially upgraded light renewable oil fraction, a water stream and a process gas stream, introducing the separated and partially upgraded heavy renewable oil fraction and separated process gas to a second reaction zone comprising at least two reactors arranged in parallel and being adapted to operate in a first and a second mode of operation, the reactors comprising dual functioning heterogeneous catalyst(-s) capable of performing a catalytic steam cracking reaction in a first mode of operation or a steam reforming reaction in a second mode of operation, where the partially upgraded heavy renewable oil fraction from the first reaction zone is contacted with the dual functioning heterogeneous catalyst and steam at a pressure of 10 to 150 bar and a temperature of 350° C. to 430° C. whereby a catalytic steam cracking of the partially upgraded heavy renewable oil is performed in the reactors in the first mode of operation, hereby providing a further upgraded heavy renewable oil fraction, while separated process gas from the first and/or second reaction zone is contacted with the dual functioning catalyst and steam at a pressure of 0.1 to 10 bar and a temperature of 350 to 600° C. in the reactors in the second mode of operation and contacted with the dual functioning catalyst, thereby producing a hydrogen enriched gas, separating the further upgraded heavy renewable oil fraction from the catalytically steam cracking reactor to at least one light renewable oil fraction, a heavy renewable oil fraction, a hydrogen rich process gas and a water phase, separating hydrogen from the hydrogen enriched gas from the catalytic steam cracking zone and/or from the catalytic steam reforming and recycling it to the first reaction zone, alternating the reactors between the first mode of operation and the second mode of operation at predetermined time intervals thereby allowing for regeneration of the heterogeneous catalyst for the catalytic steam cracking in the first mode of op

The disclosure relates to methods, systems, and apparatus arranged and designed for converting non-methane hydrocarbon gases into multiple product gas streams including a predominately hydrogen gas stream and a predominately methane gas steam. Hydrocarbon gas streams are reformed, cracked, or converted into a synthesis gas stream and methane gas stream by receiving a volume of flare gas or other hydrocarbon liquid or gas feed, where the volume of hydrocarbon feed includes a volume of methane and volume of nonmethane hydrocarbons. The hydrogen contained in the syngas may be separated into a pure hydrogen gas stream. A corresponding gas conversion system can include a super heater to provide a hydrocarbon feed/steam mixture, a heavy hydrocarbon reactor for synthesis gas formation, and a hydrogen separator to recover the hydrogen portion of the synthesis gas.

A highly compact heat integrated fuel processor, which can be used for the production of hydrogen from a fuel source, suitable to feed a fuel cell, is described. The fuel processor assembly comprises a catalytic reforming zone (29) and a catalytic combustion zone (28), separated by a wall (27). Catalyst able to induce the reforming reactions is placed in the reforming zone and catalyst able to induce the combustion reaction is placed in the combustion zone, both in the form of coating on a suitable structured substrate, in the form of a metal monolith. Fe—Cr—Al—Y steel foils, in corrugated form so as to enhance the available area for reaction, can be used as suitable substrates. The reforming and the combustion zones can be either in rectangular shape, forming a stack with alternating combustion/reforming zones or in cylindrical shape forming annular sections with alternating combustion/reforming zones, in close contact to each other. The close placement of the combustion and reforming catalyst facilitate efficient heat transfer through the wall which separates the reforming and combustion chambers.

The invention relates to a process for the production of hydrogen-enriched synthesis gas by a catalytic water-gas shift reaction, comprising the steps: introducing a gaseous flow (1) comprising at least one organic sulphide, optionally in its oxide form, in a first reactor (2) comprising a catalyst X.sub.1, collecting a sulfur-containing gaseous flow (3) from the first reactor, introducing the raw synthesis gas (4) in a second reactor (6), introducing the sulfur-containing gaseous flow (3) in the second reactor where the catalytic water-gas shift reaction takes place and comprising a sulfur-resistant shift catalyst X.sub.2, collecting an outlet flow (7) comprising hydrogen-enriched synthesis gas from the second reactor.

The invention also relates to the use of said at least one organic sulphide, optionally in its oxide form, in a process for the production of hydrogen-enriched synthesis gas by a catalytic water-gas shift reaction.

The present invention concerns a starting burner (100a; 100b) for a fuel cell system (1000a; 1000b), having a catalyst (10) with a catalyst inlet (11) and a catalyst outlet (12), a catalyst area (13) being formed between the catalyst inlet (11) and the catalyst outlet (12), and the catalyst area (13) being surrounded by a catalyst wall (14) in a passage direction (D) from the catalyst inlet (11) to the catalyst outlet (12), and an operating fluid guide section (20) for supplying an operating fluid (F1) to the catalyst inlet (11), wherein the operating fluid guide section (20) is arranged outside the catalyst (10) at least in sections along the catalyst wall (14). The invention also concerns a fuel cell system (1000) with the starting burner (100a; 100b) and a method for heating a service fluid (F1) in the fuel cell system (1000a; 1000b).

A fuel cell system comprising a fuel cell stack, an evaporator for evaporating a mixture of methanol and water to be forwarded through a catalytic reformer for producing portions of free hydrogen. The fuel cell stack being composed of a number of proton exchange membrane fuel cells each featuring electrodes in form of an anode and a cathode for delivering an electric current. The system provides an enhanced system for evaporating the liquid fuel using a pre-evaporator, which partly evaporates the fuel, followed by a nozzle, which atomizes the fuel into a fine mist, before being passed to the final evaporation zone. This configuration ensures minimal fuel accumulation in the system and fast load transition's.

The disclosure relates to methods, systems, and apparatus arranged and designed for converting non-methane hydrocarbon gases into multiple product gas streams including a predominately hydrogen gas stream and a predominately methane gas steam. Hydrocarbon gas streams are reformed, cracked, or converted into a synthesis gas stream and methane gas stream by receiving a volume of flare gas or other hydrocarbon liquid or gas feed, where the volume of hydrocarbon feed includes a volume of methane and a volume of non-methane hydrocarbons. The hydrogen contained in the syngas may be separated into a pure hydrogen gas stream. A corresponding gas conversion system can include a super heater to provide a hydrocarbon feed/steam mixture, a heavy hydrocarbon reactor for synthesis gas formation, and a hydrogen separator to recover the hydrogen portion of the synthesis gas. The gas conversion system can have a modal design such that it can operate to form hydrogen gas or alternatively operate to form synthetic natural gas with the same unit operation components.

A heat exchange module including a corrugated top heat exchange substrate and a corrugated bottom heat exchange substrate, and tubes that extend in a width direction (W) between the top and bottom substrates in heat exchanging contact with ridges of the substrates. A top and a bottom casing member contacts the substrates and each has a transverse side wall with slits oriented in the transverse direction (T) and accommodating the tubes. The side walls of the top and bottom casing members overlap and are mutually connected by soldering or brazing.

The invention relates to a method and a system for producing a hydrocarbon- and hydrogen-containing gas mixture from plastics, and the use of the system for producing this gas mixture and the use of this gas mixture as a starting material in chemical syntheses or for gas supply.