Louisiana Chemical Equipment Company

The SMR was redesigned and upgraded by Linde in 2015 to improve several sections and to increase the syngas capacity for the new GTL facility.

The steam-methane reformer (SMR) is a Linde-designed down-fired unit. It has 120 radiant section
catalyst tubes in three rows with 40 tubes in each row. The tubes are constructed of
25-chrome, 35-nickel HP micro-alloy material which were centrifugally cast and internally
machined to 4.3125 inches internal diameter. They are 41.75 feet long (heated length) with a
0.607 inch wall thickness. The tubes will be packed with catalyst prior to startup of the SMR.
Catalysts used in this application are typically Katalco 23-1, UCI C-11-9, or UCI G90B in the
form of 16 mm OD by 16 mm high by 8 mm ID catalyst rings.
The convection section of the SMR contains four cross-exchanger coils. The first exchanger
pre-heats the SMR feed to 1137oF. The second exchanger is used to superheat saturated
steam for mixing with the SMR feed gases. The third exchanger is used for medium-pressure
steam generation and the fourth exchanger is a combustion air preheater. Flue gases are
cooled to 312oF in the combustion air preheater and drawn through an induced draft fan
before being exhausted to atmosphere.
The reformer contains 18 full-capacity burners and 18 60%-capacity burners. All 36 burners
are forced draft, natural gas down-fired, arch mounted burners. They are all single-jet, low-
NOx units from Zeeco (Tulsa, OK). The burners are designed to utilize a mixture of hydrogen
and natural gas.