Economical Hydrogen Production with CO2 Capture in Oil Sands Industry

As reserves of conventional crude oil are depleted there is a growing need todevelop unconventional oils such as heavy oil and bitumen from oil sands. Interms of recoverable oil Canadian oil sands are considered to be the secondlargest oil reserves in the world. However the upgrading of bitumen from oilsands to synthetic crude oil (SCO) requires nearly ten times more hydrogen(H2) than the conventional crude oils. The current H2 demand for oil sandsoperations is met mostly by steam reforming of natural gas. With the futureexpansion of oil sands operations the demand of H2 for oil sand operationsis likely to quadruple in the next decade. As natural gas reforming involvessignificant carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions this sector is likely to contributelargely to the increase of CO2 emissions. With the current concern in globalwarming in which CO2 is a major concern it is imperative to look at the productionof H2 in a CO2 constrained world. This book presents a process thatminimizes CO2 emission and captures CO2 at minimum energy penalty intypical H2 plants. The results will be useful for hydrogen production plantsusing steam methane reforming taking into account mitigating CO2emissions.