Process Optimization of Drm+Cosorb Process for Syngas Production

Dry Reforming of Methane Process utilizes CO₂ and CH₄ to produce syngas (mixture of CO and H₂). This process has grabbed a lot of attention in academia due to its utilization of CO₂ to produce a valuable intermediate. However, the process suffers from many challenges, that have to be addressed before it can compete with existing commercial processes. The three prominent obstacles are : severe coking regime, high endothermic nature of reaction and low quality of syngas obtained (H₂/CO ≤ 1). Recent work done in our group [1] identified that a DRM stand-alone unit followed by a syngas ratio adjustment step to remove CO (COSORB) is a potential pathway towards utilization of the DRM process. In the high-level optimization study, it was found that this process is competitive when compared to commercial processes (Auto-thermal Reformer, Partial Oxidation) with reductions in CO₂ emissions above ~60% and reduction in operating costs above ~20% (in certain specific scenarios as detailed in [1]). The final usage of the captured CO has a big effect on overall process economics and carbon footprint. Hence, finding a reliable CO consumer is crucial to the success of the proposed process.

In this work, we have used various process optimization techniques (ASPEN Plus Optimization, LINGO Optimization) to get the best process operating parameters for the DRM+COSORB process while maximizing syngas production and minimizing overall CO₂ emissions. Since this combination has not yet been studied in literature, there is room for process improvements. The ultimate goal is to synthesize an optimized process flow-sheet for the proposed DRM+COSORB process. A comparison between the optimized flow-sheet and current commercial processes will be made to show the technical and commercial prospects of the proposed process.

Keywords : Dry Reforming, Syngas Ratio, DRM, COSORB

References

[1] S. Afzal, D. Sengupta, A. Sarkar, M. M. El-Halwagi, and N. O. Elbashir, “Optimization Approach to the Reduction of CO₂ Emissions for Syngas Production Involving Dry Reforming,” ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng., vol. 6, p. 7532−7544, 2018.