Hydrogen opportunities from natural gas: A challenging approach for the Arab world

High purity hydrogen is consumed in any hydro-treating and hydro-cracking processes for the removal of sulfur and nitrogen compounds as well as in heavy hydrocarbon cracking and in the saturation of aromatic compounds. It is true that the catalytic reforming process is a major source of hydrogen; however additional supply of hydrogen becomes indispensable for modern refineries. Current technology for hydrogen production from natural gas is mature and practiced on a large scale for many purposes such as methanol and ammonia manufacture, petrochemical industry, and in refining operations. The major part of the world's hydrogen production is accomplished by the steam reforming process (SRP) of natural gas. This is a catalytic process that requires sulfur-free feed stocks. In this presentation, novel methods are proposed to produce hydrogen from abundant resources of sour natural gas available in the oil fields:- • Non catalytic partial oxidation of sour natural gas (NCPO): In this process, H2S gas is oxidized to SO2 which is converted to sulfuric acid, produced as a by product. Natural gas, on the other hand is partially oxidized yielding synthesis gas rich in hydrogen. • High-temperature pyrolysis (HTP) of sour natural gas yielding pure hydrogen, while converting the carbon and the H2S into carbon black and sulfur respectively. The implantation of this proposal in some of the oil/gas producing countries in the Middle East is investigated and case study is presented.