Answer to Question #184813 in Inorganic Chemistry for kjdgdfqgweg

Question

discuss the industrial preparation of hydrogen by the steam reformer process which use light hydrocarbons

Answer 1

Steam reforming is a hydrogen production process from natural gas. This method is currently the cheapest source of industrial hydrogen. The process consists of heating the gas to between 700–1100 °C in the presence of steam and a nickel catalyst. The resulting endothermic reaction breaks up the methane molecules and forms carbon monoxide CO and hydrogen H2. The carbon monoxide gas can then be passed with steam over iron oxide or other oxides and undergo a water gas shift reaction to obtain further quantities of H2. The downside to this process is that its byproducts are major atmospheric release of CO2, CO and other greenhouse gases.Depending on the quality of the feedstock (natural gas, rich gases, naphtha, etc.), one ton of hydrogen produced will also produce 9 to 12 tons of CO2, a greenhouse gas that may be captured.