A hydrogen production system including a steam reformer unit, a steam addition line arranged to add steam upstream the steam reformer unit, a hydrogen membrane unit comprising a hydrogen permeable membrane and being arranged to allow at least a part of a reformed stream and a hydrocarbon feed stream to pass on different sides of a hydrogen permeable membrane, so that hydrogen passes from the reformed stream into the hydrocarbon feed stream, thereby forming said hydrogen enriched hydrocarbon stream, and a separation unit downstream the first side of the hydrogen membrane unit, where the separation unit is arranged to separating the reformed stream exiting the first side of the hydrogen membrane unit into a hydrogen product gas and an off-gas.

A permeation cell device includes a body component, a wire mesh support structure positioned in the body component, a membrane over the wire mesh support structure, a pair of compressible gaskets sandwiching the membrane, and a flange compressing the membrane. A spectroscopic device contains the permeation cell device. At least one mechanism simultaneously performs an infrared-reflection absorption spectroscopic analysis of a surface of the membrane as a fluid permeates on the membrane and measures a trans-membrane fluid permeation rate across the membrane. The wire mesh support structure may be configured to provide mechanical support to the non-opaque membrane at a pressure of at least 1 atm. The permeation cell device and the spectroscopic device may collectively create a pair of separate isolated compartments. The body component may include a material that is non-permeable to the fluid.

A sorbent precursor is described comprising agglomerates of an inert particulate support material, the agglomerates being bound together with a binder comprising cement and/or clay, said binder being characterized as an agglomerate binder, wherein (a) the agglomerates are coated with a surface layer coating comprising a particulate copper compound and one or more coating binders, and (b) the surface layer has a thickness in a range of from 1 to 1000 m. The sorbent precursor may be sulphided to prepare a sorbent for removing heavy metals from fluid streams.

Methods and systems related to augmenting syngas production using electrolysis are disclosed. A disclosed method includes harvesting a volume of carbon monoxide from a syngas production system operating on a volume of natural gas, supplying the volume of carbon monoxide to a cathode area of an electrolyzer, and generating, using the volume of carbon monoxide and the electrolyzer, a volume of generated chemicals. The volume of generated chemicals is at least one of: a volume of hydrocarbons, a volume of olefins, a volume of organic acids, a volume of alcohols, and a volume of N-rich organic compounds.

The invention relates to an apparatus for purifying raw syngas which comprises a vertically oriented vessel comprising (a) a bottom section comprising an inlet for the raw syngas, an outlet for contaminants-rich water located below the inlet for raw syngas, a bed of a packing material located above the inlet for raw syngas and at least one inlet for water located above the bed of packing material and below the middle section; (b) a middle section located directly above the bottom section and fluidly connected with such bottom section comprising a number of separation trays corresponding with a number of theoretical stages in the range of from 8 to 20 and at least one inlet for water located above the separation trays; and (c) a top section located directly above the middle section and fluidly connected with such middle section comprising de-entrainment means, at least one inlet for water located above the de-entrainment means and an outlet for the purified syngas located above the inlet for water. The invention also relates to a process for purifying syngas using the apparatus described above.

A process is provided for treating a hydrocarbon gas stream comprising sending the hydrocarbon gas stream to a membrane unit to be separated into a residue stream and a permeate gas stream; then sending the permeate gas stream with or without undergoing compression to a solvent absorption unit to remove carbon dioxide and other impurities; and recovering a treated gas.

In various aspects, methods are provided for hydrogen production while reducing and/or mitigating emissions during various refinery processes that produce syngas, such as power generation. Syngas can be effectively separated to generate high purity carbon dioxide and hydrogen streams, while reducing and/or minimizing the energy required for the separation, and without needing to reduce the temperature of the flue gas. In various aspects, the operating conditions, such as high temperature, mixed metal oxide adsorbents, and cycle variations, for a pressure swing adsorption reactor can be selected to minimize energy penalties while still effectively capturing the CO.sub.2 present in syngas.

A system and method for processing unconditioned syngas first removes solids and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC), then removes volatile organic compounds (VOC), and then removes at least one sulfur containing compound from the syngas. Additional processing may be performed depending on such factors as the source of syngas being processed, the products, byproducts and intermediate products desired to be formed, captured or recycled and environmental considerations.

A system and method for processing unconditioned syngas first removes solids and semi -volatile organic compounds (SVOC), then removes volatile organic compounds (VOC), and then removes at least one sulfur containing compound from the syngas. Additional processing may be performed depending on such factors as the source of syngas being processed, the products, byproducts and intermediate products desired to be formed, captured or recycled and environmental considerations.

A method for preparing a sorbent precursor, which may be sulphided and used to remove heavy metals such as mercury from fluid streams, includes the steps of: (i) mixing together an inert particulate support material and one or more binders to form a support mixture, (ii) shaping the support mixture by granulation in a granulator to form agglomerates, (iii) coating the agglomerates with a coating mixture powder including a particulate copper compound and one or more binders to form a coated agglomerate, and (iv) drying the coated agglomerate to form a dried sorbent precursor.