Low-temperature, sulfur-tolerant homogeneous catalysts for the water-gas shift reaction. Final report.

摘要

Coal gasification in conjunction with the water-gas shift reaction represents a significant resource for the production of hydrogen, a gas of considerable industrial value. Current industrial water-gas shift reaction (WGSR) processes are operated in two stages: a high temperature shift (HTS) stage operating at about 350(degree)C over sulfur-tolerant catalysts, followed by a low temperature shift (LTS) stage operating at about 250(degree)C over a sulfur-intolerant catalyst. Several reports in the literature suggest that homogeneous catalysis of WGS is highly active at LT and sulfur-tolerant. Catalysts active at temperatures as low as 60(degree)C are reported to remain active in the presence of large sulfur concentrations. However, these studies were conducted in batch reactors with activities measured far from equilibrium. Those conditions are very different from industrial conditions of continuous operation close to equilibrium. The purpose of this project was to evaluate these homogeneous WGS catalysts under more industrially relevant conditions and to preliminarily compare the economics of a process based on high-activity, LT, sulfur-tolerant, homogeneous WGS catalysts to a process based on current industrial practice. Several transition element catalysts were screened. 98 refs., 11 figs., 23 tabs. (ERA citation 15:032050)