KBR Reforming Exchanger System (KRES™)

KRES™ is a proprietary heat exchanger-based steam reforming technology consisting of a fired preheater, an autothermal reformer (ATR) and a reforming exchanger. KRES™ takes the place of a conventional primary reformer by feeding excess air, natural gas feed and steam to the ATR and feed and steam in parallel into the upper end of the robust, shell-and-tube reforming exchanger. The compact ATR and reforming exchanger in combination with the fired preheater take up much less plot space than a conventional fired steam methane reformer.

KRES™

The tubes in the KBR reforming exchanger are open-ended and hang from a single tube sheet at the inlet cold end to minimize expansion problems. They are packed with a conventional reforming catalyst, which can be easily loaded through a removable top head. The tubes are accessible and removable as a bundle for maintenance. This simple, proprietary design has proven to be extremely reliable and maintenance-free in commercial operation since 1994.

Heat to drive the reforming reaction is supplied by the effluent gas from the ATR, which operates in parallel with the reforming exchanger. To ensure adequate heat to drive the reaction, the ATR receives excess process air, typically 50 percent more than what is required for nitrogen balance.

The hot ATR effluent enters the lower shell side of the reforming exchanger where it combines with reformed gas exiting the reforming tubes. This combined gas stream travels upward through the baffled shell side of the reforming exchanger providing heat needed for the endothermic reforming reaction occurring inside the catalyst-filled reforming tubes. In this way, heat energy that would otherwise be used to generate possibly unneeded steam in a waste heat boiler downstream of the reformer is used, instead, to replace fuel as the source of heat to drive the reforming reaction.