The present application is directed to the preparation of synthesis gas. More particular, the invention combines electrolysis of water, tubular steam reforming and auto- thermal reforming and optionally additionally heat exchange reforming of a hydrocarbon feed stock in the preparation of a hydrogen and carbon oxides containing synthesis gas.

Production of synthesis gas e.g. for the methanol synthesis with natural gas feed is typically carried out by steam re ^¬ forming .

The principal reaction of steam reforming is (given for methane) :

CH ₄ + H ₂ 0 ¾ 3H ₂ + CO

Similar reactions occur for other hydrocarbons. Steam re ^¬ forming is normally accompanied by the water gas shift re ^¬ action :

CO + H ₂ 0 ¾ C0 ₂ + H2

Tubular reforming can e.g be done by, a combination of a tubular reformer (also called steam methane reformer, SMR) and autothermal reforming (ATR) , also known as primary and secondary reforming or 2-step reforming. Alternatively, stand-alone SMR or stand-alone ATR can be used to prepare the synthesis gas.

The main elements of an ATR reactor are a burner, a combus ^¬ tion chamber, and a catalyst bed contained within a refrac- tory lined pressure shell. In an ATR reactor, partial oxi ^¬ dation or combustion of a hydrocarbon feed by sub-stoichio- metric amounts of oxygen is followed by steam reforming of the partially combusted hydrocarbon feed stream in a fixed bed of steam reforming catalyst. Steam reforming also takes place to some extent in the combustion chamber due to the high temperature. The steam reforming reaction is accompa- nied by the water gas shift reaction. Typically, the gas is at or close to equilibrium at the outlet of the ATR reactor with respect to steam reforming and water gas shift reac ^¬ tions. The temperature of the exit gas is typically in the range between 850 and 1100°C. More details of ATR and a full description can be found in the art such as "Studies in Surface Science and Catalysis, Vol. 152 , "Synthesis gas production for FT synthesis"; Chapter 4, p.258-352, 2004".

More details of tubular steam reforming and 2-step reform- ing can be found in the same reference.

Regardless of whether stand-alone SMR, 2-step reforming, or stand-alone ATR is used, the product gas will comprise hy ^¬ drogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide as well as other components normally including methane and steam.

Methanol synthesis gas has preferably a composition corre ^¬ sponding to a so-called module (M= (H2-C02 ) / (CO+C02 ) ) of 1.90-2.20 or more preferably slightly above 2 (eg.2.00- 2.10).

Steam reforming in an SMR typically results in a higher module i.e. excess of hydrogen, while 2-step reforming can provide the desired module. In 2-step reforming the exit temperature of the steam reformer is typically adjusted such that the desired module is obtained at the outlet of the ATR. In 2-step reforming the steam methane reformer (SMR) must be large and a significant amount of heat is required to drive the endothermic steam reforming reaction. Hence, it is desirable if the size and duty of the steam reformer can be reduced. Furthermore, the ATR in the 2-step reforming concept requires oxygen. Today this is typically produced in a cryogenic air separation unit (ASU) . The size and cost of this ASU is large. If the oxygen could be produced by other means, this would be desirable.

We have found that when combining tubular steam reforming, autothermal reforming and together with electrolysis of wa ^¬ ter and/or steam, the expensive ASU can be reduced and even become superfluous in the preparation of synthesis gas.

Thus, this invention provides a method for the preparation of synthesis gas comprising the steps of

(a) providing a hydrocarbon feed stock;

(b) preparing a separate hydrogen containing stream and a separate oxygen containing stream by electrolysis of water and/or steam;

(c) tubular steam reforming at least a part of the hydro ^¬ carbon feed stock from step (a) to a tubular steam reformed gas;

(d) autothermal reforming in an autothermal reformer the tubular steam reformed gas with at least a part of the oxy ^¬ gen containing stream obtained by the electrolysis of water and/or steam in step (b) to an autothermal reformed gas stream comprising hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide ; (e) introducing at least part of the separate hydrogen con ^¬ taining stream from step (b) into the autothermal reformed gas stream from step (d) ; and

(f) withdrawing the synthesis gas.

In some applications, the oxygen prepared by electrolysis of water introduced into the autothermal reformer in step (d) can additionally be supplemented by oxygen prepared by air separation in an (ASU) .

Thus in an embodiment of the invention, the method accord ^¬ ing to the invention comprises the further step of separat ^¬ ing air into a separate stream containing oxygen and into a separate stream containing nitrogen and introducing at least a part of the separate stream containing oxygen into the autothermal reformer in step (d) .

Like the electrolysis of water and/or steam, the air sepa ^¬ ration can preferably at least be powered by renewable en- ergy.

In all the above embodiments, a part of the hydrocarbon feed stock from step (a) can bypass the tubular steam reforming in step (c) and introduced to the autothermal re- former in step (d)

The module can additionally be adjusted to the desired value by introducing substantially pure carbon dioxide up ^¬ stream step (c) , and/or upstream of step (d) and/or down- stream step d. The amount of hydrogen added to the reformed gas downstream step (d) can be tailored such that when the hydrogen is mixed with the process gas generated by the reforming steps, the desired value of M of between 1.90 and 2.20 or preferably between 2.00 and 2.10 is achieved.

In one embodiment, the electrolysis unit is operated such that all the hydrogen produced in this unit is added to the reformed gas downstream step (d) and the module of the re- suiting mixture of this hydrogen and the process gas is be ^¬ tween 1.9 and 2.2 or preferably between 2 and 2.1.

In this embodiment some or preferably all the oxygen from the electrolysis unit is added to the autothermal reformer in step (d) . Additional oxygen from an air separation unit can be added to the autothermal reformer in this embodi ^¬ ment .

In general, suitable hydrocarbon feed stocks to the tubular reformer and/or the heat exchange reformer (s) for use in the invention comprise natural gas, methane, LNG, naphtha or mixtures thereof either as such or pre-reformed and/or desulfurized. The hydrocarbon feed stocks may further comprise hydrogen and/or steam as well as other components.

The electrolysis can be performed by various means known in the art such as by solid oxide based electrolysis or elec ^¬ trolysis by alkaline cells or polymer cells (PEM) . If the power for the electrolysis is produced (at least in part) by sustainable sources, the C02-emissions is per unit of product produced by the method reduced. The method according to the invention is preferably em ^¬ ployed for the production methanol by conversion of the synthesis gas withdrawn in step (f)

However, the method according to the invention can also be employed for producing synthesis gas for other applications where it is desirable to increase the hydrogen concentra ^¬ tion in the feed gas and where part of the oxygen and hy ^¬ drogen needed for synthesis gas production is favorably produced by electrolysis.

Example

In the below table a comparison between conventional 2-step reforming and 2-step reforming + electrolysis according to the invention is provided.

Comparison Table

2-step 2-step reforming reform+ electrolysis ing

Tubular reformer inlet T 625 625 [°C]

Tubular reformer outlet T 706 669 [°C]

Tubular reformer inlet P 31 31 [kg/cm ² g] Tubular reformer min. Re13,38 9,48 quired fired duty [Gcal/h]

Tubular reformer outlet flow 67180 64770 [Nm ³ /h]

Feed to SMR

H2 [Nm ³ /h] 4099 4091

C02 [Nm ³ /h] 897 895

CH4 [Nm ³ /h] 22032 21993

CO [Nm ³ /h] 14 14

H20 [Nm ³ /h] 30313 30259

N2 [Nm ³ /h] 0 0

ATR feed inlet T [°C] 708 669

ATR oxidant inlet T [°C] 240 240

ATR outlet T [°C] 1050 1050

ATR inlet P [kg/cm ² g] 29 29

ATR outlet flow [Nm ³ /h] 101004 100937

Feed to ATR

H2 [Nm ³ /h] 21538 17792

C02 [Nm ³ /h] 3598 3320

CH4 [Nm ³ /h] 17119 18235

CO [Nm ³ /h] 2226 1348

H20 [Nm ³ /h] 22698 24075

Oxidant to ATR

H20 [Nm ³ /h] 100 108

N2 [Nm ³ /h] 212 228

02 [Nm ³ /h] 10393 11148

Electrolysis product

H2 [Nm ³ /h]* 0 1493

02 [Nm ³ /h]** 0 747

Oxygen from ASU

02 [Nm ³ /h] 10393 10401 Product gas

H2 [Nm ³ /h] 52099 52358

C02 [Nm ³ /h] 4679 4942

CH4 [Nm ³ /h] 364 319

CO [Nm ³ /h] 17901 17642

H20 [Nm ³ /h]* 25750 26941

N2 [Nm ³ /h]* 212 2289

Module 2.10 2.10

* Included in product gas

** Included in oxidant to ATR

As apparent from the Comparison Table above, the required duty for the tubular reformer can be significantly reduced by the current invention. This duty will in practice trans- late in to less use of natural gas for heating the SMR. Be ^¬ sides the lower consumption figures of natural gas, this results with an added benefit of less CO ₂ emissions in the flue gas stack. Furthermore, the investment of the tubular reformer is substantially reduced.