Claims
- 1. A method of steam reforming, comprising:passing steam and hydrocarbon through a reaction chamber; wherein the reaction chamber comprises a spinel-containing catalyst that has surface active sites comprising a material selected from the group consisting of rhodium, iridium, nickel, palladium, platinum, ruthenium, carbide of group VIb and combinations thereof; wherein the rate of said passing steam and hydrocarbon is controlled such that residence time in the reaction chamber is less than 0.1 seconds; wherein the temperature in the reaction chamber is in the range of 500° C. to 1000° C.; and wherein, at least 60% of said hydrocarbon is converted to products.
- 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the hydrogen has been produced with a selectivity of at least 60%.
- 3. The method of claim 2 wherein the surface active sites comprise rhodium.
- 4. The method of claim 2 wherein the method has a hydrogen productivity of at least 0.7 mmol·s−1·cm−3.
- 5. The method of claim 2 having a contact time of 10 to 25 milliseconds.
- 6. The method of claim 5 wherein said hydrocarbon comprises a C1-C10 alkane.
- 7. The method of claim 5 wherein said hydrocarbon comprises methane, and at least 95% of said methane is converted to products with a hydrogen selectivity of at least 95%.
- 8. A method of steam reforming, comprising:passing steam and hydrocarbon through a reaction chamber; wherein the reaction chamber comprises a spinel-containing catalyst that has surface active sites comprising a material selected from the group consisting of rhodium, iridium, nickel, palladium, platinum, ruthenium, carbide of group VIb and combinations thereof; wherein the rate of said passing steam and hydrocarbon is controlled such that residence time in the reaction chamber is less than 0.1 seconds; wherein the temperature in the reaction chamber is in the range of 500° C. to 1000° C.; and wherein at least 0.5 mmol of hydrogen gas is produced per second per cubic centimeter of reaction chamber volume.
- 9. The method of claim 8 wherein hydrocarbon conversion is at least 50%.
- 10. The method of claim 9 wherein hydrogen selectivity is at least 50%.
- 11. The method of claim 10 wherein at least 0.7 mmol of hydrogen gas is produced per second per cubic centimeter of reaction chamber volume.
- 12. The method of claim 11 run at a temperature of 650-900° C.
- 13. The method of claim 12 wherein the hydrocarbon consists essentially of methane and wherein hydrocarbon conversion is at least 90% of equilibrium conversion.
- 14. The method of claim 13 wherein the contact time is in the range of 5 to 100 milliseconds.
- 15. The method of claim 12 wherein the contact time is less than 25 milliseconds and wherein hydrogen selectivity is at least 85%.
- 16. The method of claim 15 wherein 0.5 to 2 mmol of hydrogen gas is produced per second per cubic centimeter of reaction chamber volume.
- 17. The method of claim 11 wherein hydrocarbon conversion is at least 90%.
- 18. The method of claim 17 wherein hydrogen selectivity is at least 85%, and wherein there is no change in CO selectivity after 7 hours of continuous reaction.
- 19. A method of steam reforming, comprising:passing steam and hydrocarbon through a reaction chamber; wherein the reaction chamber comprises a spinet-containing catalyst that has surface active sites comprising a material selected from the group consisting of rhodium, iridium, nickel, palladium, platinum, ruthenium, carbide of group VIb and combinations thereof; wherein the rate of said passing steam and hydrocarbon is controlled such that residence time in the reaction chamber is less than 0.1 seconds; wherein the temperature in the reaction chamber is in the range of 500° C. to 1000° C.; and wherein at least 50% of said hydrocarbon is converted to products.
- 20. The method of claim 1 wherein the spinel-containing catalyst comprises a material selected from the group consisting of rhodium, iridium, nickel, palladium, platinum, ruthenium and combinations thereof.
- 21. The method of claim 12, wherein the spinel-containing catalyst comprises a material selected from the group consisting of rhodium, iridium, nickel, palladium, platinum, ruthenium and combinations thereof.
- 22. The method of claim 19, wherein the spinel-containing catalyst comprises a material selected from the group consisting of rhodium, iridium, nickel, palladium, platinum, ruthenium and combinations thereof.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/375,615, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,284,217 B1, filed Aug. 17, 1999, Ser. No. 09/640,903 (filed Aug. 16, 2000), and Ser. No. 09/375,614 (filed Aug. 17, 1999), U.S. Pat. No. 6,488,838 all of which are incorporated herein as if reproduced in full below.
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EP |
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JP |
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Continuation in Parts (3)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09/640903 |
Aug 2000 |
US |
Child |
09/788293 |
|
US |
Parent |
09/375615 |
Aug 1999 |
US |
Child |
09/640903 |
|
US |
Parent |
09/375614 |
Aug 1999 |
US |
Child |
09/375615 |
|
US |