Carbon dioxide and methane are typical greenhouse gases and important carbon resources. The scientific community has been exploring how to recycle and transform carbon dioxide. Recently, the world's first Wanfang class methane carbon dioxide autothermal reforming plant to syngas has achieved stable operation in Shanxi Lu 'an Group Coal-to-Oil Base, successfully achieving the above objectives.

According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the technology is the result of a methane carbon dioxide reforming project jointly launched by the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanxi Lu 'an Mining (Group) Co., Ltd., and Dutch Shell Petroleum Industries.

Using methane and carbon dioxide as carbon sources can be converted to syngas (CO and H2) under certain conditions, which is called methane carbon dioxide reforming or dry reforming. Compared with the traditional methane steam reforming, methane carbon dioxide reforming consumes almost no water, but uses a large amount of carbon dioxide, reduces energy consumption and alleviates the pressure of greenhouse gas emission reduction, so it has been widely concerned in the world. However, the reaction process is particularly prone to carbon deposition, and carbon-resistant catalysts and dedicated reactors have been recognized as the core problems in the industrialization of the technology. Therefore, domestic and foreign related research and development has not yet reached the scale of industrial sideline or demonstration.

Methane carbon dioxide replacement device

It is understood that the Key Laboratory of Low-carbon Conversion Science and Engineering of Shanghai Advanced Research Institute has successfully solved the stability problem of nano-metals, especially the matching of catalyst casting and internal structure. On this basis, the technology can be extended to steam reforming and multiple reforming applications to achieve flexible adjustment of H2/CO ratio of syngas. Therefore, this technology is suitable for the conversion and utilization of conventional or unconventional natural gas, as well as for the utilization of gas released in coal chemical and metallurgical industries.

On the basis of the preliminary trial operation and system optimization, the methane carbon dioxide autothermal reforming plant to syngas started the whole system operation on June 21 and realized full load production on July 10. The on-site calibration organized by China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation was completed on August 2. Experts agreed that the research achieved efficient utilization of carbon dioxide and flexible and adjustable proportion of syngas, and suggested that industrial application and promotion should be carried out as soon as possible.

Up to now, the unit has been in stable operation for more than 1000 hours, with a daily low H2/CO molar ratio of more than 200,000 Nm3 of product gas and a daily conversion utilization of up to 60 tons of CO2.