JPS6236002A - Single column hydrogen producing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce floor area and equipment cost by disposing main unit apparatus of the conventional hydrogen producing apparatus in a column shape so that the apparatus is made small and compact. CONSTITUTION:The apparatus is constituted to the single column type as a whole by installing a gas-liquid separating vessel 2 to the lowermost part, respectively connecting and providing a gas cooler 4, a preheater 5, a reactor 6 and further an evaporator 8 via a partition plate 7 in the upper vertical direction. The side effects to efficiently fluidize the reactive gas and liquid and to minimize the pressure drop are obtd. by such constitution.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION "Field of Industrial Application" The present invention relates to a small and compact single-unit hydrogen production apparatus that produces crude hydrogen gas using methanol as a raw material.

“Prior Art” Hydrogen production equipment for producing crude hydrogen by decomposing methanol or steam reforming generally uses raw materials (
It consists of a preheater for methanol (or methanol and water), an evaporator, a reactor, a gas cooler, a gas-liquid separation tank, etc. In conventional equipment, each of these unit devices is
Although some parts (for example, gas coolers and gas-liquid separation tanks) are sometimes arranged three-dimensionally, most are arranged flatly, and each piece of equipment is installed individually on a frame, and each is connected via piping. The entire device has a complex configuration.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] As mentioned above, in conventional hydrogen production equipment using methanol raw material, most of the unit equipment is installed flat and the units are connected through piping, so the installation area is large. However, it required a complicated structure and piping, and the equipment cost was relatively high.

"Means for Solving the Problem" In order to solve the above problems, the present invention reduces the installation area by arranging the main unit equipment of the conventional hydrogen production equipment in a tower shape and making it smaller and more compact. The purpose is to reduce equipment costs. That is, a gas-liquid separation tank is installed at the bottom, and a gas cooler, preheater, reactor, and evaporator are installed vertically upward and connected through a partition plate, resulting in a single column-shaped structure as a whole. Configure.

"Example and operation" An example of a hydrogen production apparatus by steam reforming of methanol will be described below based on the drawings.

In the figure, the lowest part of the single-column hydrogen production apparatus 1 is a gas-liquid separation tank 2, which is equipped with a gas-liquid separation plate 3. Above the gas-liquid separation tank, a gas cooler 4, a preheater 5, a reactor 6, and an evaporator 8 are connected to each other via a cutting plate 7 in the vertical direction. Furthermore, a heat medium expansion tank 9 is installed at the top. In the drawings, the connecting parts of each unit equipment are body flange connections, but the parts between the gas-liquid separation tank 2, the gas cooler 4, and the preheater 5 may be welded structures since there is little need for disassembly. Furthermore, the gas cooler 4, preheater 5, and evaporator 8 are multi-tube heat exchanger types,
Other types such as spiral heat exchangers are also possible. The reactor 6 is of multi-tubular type and the catalyst 10 is filled inside the tube.

The hydrogen production apparatus of the present invention has the above configuration, and to explain it using methanol steam reforming as an example, the raw material 11 (methanol and water) is sent to the preheater 5 by a pump, heated on the shell side, and then piped into the pipe. 12 to the evaporator 8 where it is evaporated within the tube. In the preheater 5, the raw material is heated by the reaction gas passing through the tube side, and the raw material is heated in the evaporator 8.
Now, the heating medium 14 is passed through the shell side and heated. The evaporated and further superheated raw material gas is sent to the upper part of the reactor 6 via the pipe 13. Since the partition plate 7 is provided between the evaporator and the reactor, the gases at the evaporator inlet and outlet do not mix. Next, the high-temperature raw material gas passes through the tube of the reactor 6, where methanol is reformed by a catalytic reaction to produce a crude gas containing water vapor and impure gas. Since the reaction is an endothermic reaction, the reaction temperature is maintained by heating from outside the tube using a heating medium 14.

The outlet pipe of the heat medium 14 and the heat medium expansion tank 9 are connected by a pipe 19 to adjust the expansion of the heat medium.

The reaction product gas (crude hydrogen gas) passes through the tube side of the preheater 5,
The raw material methanol on the shell side is preheated and 2) itself is mainly cooled. Furthermore, it passes through the tube side of the gas cooler 4 and is cooled from outside the tube with cooling water 20, condensing moisture and a small amount of methanol in the decontamination tower. Next, it enters the lower gas-liquid separation tank 2, where the condensate 15 and crude hydrogen gas 16 are separated.

Impurity gas is separated from the crude hydrogen gas using a hydrogen purification device 17 such as a PSA device or a membrane separation device, and purified hydrogen 18 is obtained.

It is also possible to decompose methanol and produce a gas containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide as main components using a single-unit crude hydrogen producing apparatus similar to that of the embodiment.

"Effects of the Invention" As described above, the single-column hydrogen production apparatus of the present invention has the main unit equipment integrated into a single column.
It is small and compact, the installation area is reduced, connecting piping between each device is unnecessary or can be shortened, and the frame is simple, resulting in a significant reduction in equipment costs as a whole. Furthermore, the reaction gas and liquid flow efficiently from above to the evaporator, reactor, preheater, gas cooler, and gas-liquid separation tank, which has the side effect of minimizing pressure loss.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawing is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the configuration of the single-column hydrogen production apparatus of the present invention. 1: Single column hydrogen production equipment 2: Gas-liquid separation tank 4: Gas cooler 5: Preheater 6: Reactor 8: Evaporator 9: Heat medium expansion tank 16: Crude hydrogen patent applicant Nihon Kagaku Gijutsu Co., Ltd. Representative Sa No Tsukasa Roin Togai (-11111) -- No. 11 No. Tower Li Presentation 11

Claims (1)

[Claims] A gas-liquid separation tank is installed at the bottom, and a gas cooler, preheater, reactor, and evaporator are connected vertically upwards through a partition plate, making the whole into a single column. Features of single-column hydrogen production equipment.