Recent Advances in Industrial Sulfur Tolerant Water Gas Shift Catalysts for Syngas Hydrogen Enrichment: Application of Lean (Low) Steam/Gas Ratio

A novel sulfur tolerant water gas shift (SWGS) catalyst has been developed for the applications under lean (low) steam/gas ratio conditions, which has been extensively used for H 2/CO adjustment of syngas and H 2 enrichment in the world since 2000s with safer operation and lower steam consumption. Technology design and catalyst performances under different lean steam/gas conditions were comprehensively reported. Industrial data were collected from several large scale running plants with a variety of served catalysts characterized and precisely re-examined in the laboratory. It is shown that the developed Mo–Co/alkali/Al 2O 3 SWGS catalyst can operate very steadily even with the steam/gas ratio as low as 0.2–0.3, and the main deactivation factors are accidental caking, sintering, as well as poisoning impurities, such as As or Cl. The adoption of lean steam/gas SWGS catalyst can significantly improve the plant efficiency & safety and remarkably reduce the actual steam consumption for H 2 production, which can decrease CO 2 emission correspondingly. The work helps to evaluate how specially designed SWGS catalysts performed under applied lean steam/gas conditions, providing important references for researchers and industry. View Full-Tex