Wet Oxidation Hydrogen Purification

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022332572-A1
Application number	US-202017760794-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 28, 2020
Priority date	Sep 26, 2019
Publication date	Oct 20, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

The invention is directed to a process for the purification of a raw hydrogen gas stream comprising hydrogen gas in an amount of 85-99%, said process comprising the step of contacting said raw hydrogen gas stream with an oxidized bed comprising an oxidized metal resulting in a waste gas stream comprising water and less than 5% hydrogen gas, and in a reduction of said oxidized metal; and a step of contacting a bed comprising a reduced metal with water to produce a purified hydrogen gas stream comprising more than 99% hydrogen gas, preferably comprising 99.97% or more hydrogen gas, and the oxidized metal. In a further aspect, the invention is directed to an apparatus suitable to carry out said process.

First claim

1 . A process for the purification of a raw hydrogen gas stream comprising hydrogen gas in an amount of 85-99 mol %, said process comprising the steps of:
a) contacting said raw hydrogen gas stream with an oxidized bed comprising an oxidized metal at least resulting in a waste gas stream comprising water and less than 5 mol % hydrogen gas, and in a reduction of said oxidized metal; and b) contacting a bed comprising a reduced metal with water to at least produce a purified hydrogen gas stream comprising more than 99 mol % hydrogen gas, and the oxidized metal.

2 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein said raw hydrogen gas stream further comprises one or more further reducing gases, and wherein step a) includes oxidizing said reducing gas to a higher oxidation state utilizing the oxidized bed.

3 . The process according to claim 1 , said process further comprising a step c) that comprises compressing the purified hydrogen gas stream to a pressure in the range of 200 to 1000 bar.

4 . The process according to claim 3 , wherein said compressed purified hydrogen is stored in a hydrogen gas storage container.

5 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein said purified hydrogen gas stream is fed to and stored in a fuel container that is connected to a hydrogen fuel cell.

6 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein steps a) and b) are carried out simultaneously.

7 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein heat is generated in step b) and which heat is at least partially used in step a).

8 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein step a) is carried out at a temperature in the range of 200 to 900° C. and wherein the waste gas stream has an elevated temperature, and wherein heat is extracted from the waste gas stream, which heat is at least partially used in step a).

9 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the raw hydrogen gas stream comprises hydrogen gas in an amount of 90 to 98 mol %.

10 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the oxidized metal comprises iron oxides and wherein the reduced metal particles comprise metallic iron.

11 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the waste gas stream comprises less than 1 mol % hydrogen gas.

12 . An apparatus for the purification of a raw hydrogen gas stream in accordance with claim 1 , said apparatus comprising at least a first reactor comprising an oxidized bed comprising an oxidized metal or a reduced bed comprising a reduced metal, said first reactor further comprising a gas inlet and a gas outlet, which gas outlet is connected to a hydrogen gas storage container via a compressor that is suitable for compressing hydrogen gas.

13 . The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the inlet is connected to a hydrogen gas supply pipe line.

14 . The apparatus according to claim 12 , said apparatus comprising at least a further second reactor that comprises an oxidized bed comprising the oxidized metal or a reduced bed comprising the reduced metal, wherein said first reactor is connected to said second reactor via a heat exchanger such that during operation heat that is generated in the first reactor can be exchanged to the second reactor and vise-versa.

15 . The process according to claim 1 wherein the purified hydrogen gas stream comprises 99.97 mol % or more hydrogen gas.

16 . The process according to claim 1 wherein the one or more further reducing gases comprises carbon monoxide or methane.

17 . The process according to claim 1 wherein the purified hydrogen gas is compressed.

18 . The process according to claim 1 wherein the purified hydrogen gas is compressed and stored in a fuel container that is located in a vehicle.

19 . The process according to claim 1 wherein the waste gas stream has an elevated temperature in the range at which step a) is carried out.

Assignees

• TNO

Inventors

• Cuypers Ruud
• Geers Leonard Ferdinand Gerard
• Van Vliet Laurens Daniël
• Kalkman Arie Jacobus

Classifications

• C01B3/10 Primary

  by reaction of water vapour with metals · CPC title

• Y02E60/50

  Fuel cells · CPC title

• Y02E60/36

  Hydrogen production from non-carbon containing sources, e.g. by water electrolysis · CPC title

• B01J8/0278

  Feeding reactive fluids (for solid material B01J8/0015) · CPC title

• B01J2208/00309

  with two or more reactions in heat exchange with each other, such as an endothermic reaction in heat exchange with an exothermic reaction · CPC title