PATENT

3512. ----- [STANDARD OIL CO.]  Hydrogen-Containing Gases.  British Patent 616,710, Jan. 26, 1949.  Chem. Abs., vol. 43, 1949, p. 4836.

Mixture of CO and H₂ is manufactured in a 2-stage process, which comprises:  (1) A mixture of steam, a hydrocarbon normally gaseous, and CO₂ is caused to react in the presence of a suitable catalyst at an elevated temperature and a pressure above atmospheric to form a product containing CO, H₂, CO₂, H₂O, and unchanged hydrocarbons: and (2) the product from stage 1 is passed into an oxidizing zone where it comes into contact with a gas containing free O₂, so that it is burned and the remainder of the hydrocarbon is largely converted to CO and H₂O.  The 1^st, or reformer, stage may e operated with gas throughputs in the range 500-4,000 vol. of theoretical H₂ plus CO per vol. catalyst per hr.  Theoretical H₂ plus CO is defined as the total molecules of H₂+CO obtained by complete conversion of the hydrocarbons with steam.  Maximum re-former catalyst operating temperatures range 704°-816° to obtain hydrocarbon  conversions of approximately 65-85%.  At these temperature levels the operating pressure may be is the range 15-150 p. s. i. g.  In the oxidizing stage the throughput may lie in the same volume range, with a minimum operating temperature 816°-982°, at pressures of 15-150 p. s. i. , as set by the re-former operation.  The addition in this stage of 0.25-0.45 mol. O₂ per C atom is preferable.