Recent Advances in Industrial Sulfur Tolerant Water Gas Shift Catalysts for Syngas Hydrogen Enrichment: Application of Lean (Low) Steam/Gas Ratio

A novel sulfur tolerant water gas shift (SWGS) catalyst has been developed for the applications under lean (low) steam/gas ratio conditions, which has been extensively used for H2/CO adjustment of syngas and H2 enrichment in the world since 2000s with safer operation and lower steam consumption. Technology design and catalyst performances under different lean steam/gas conditions were comprehensively reported. Industrial data were collected from several large scale running plants with a variety of served catalysts characterized and precisely re-examined in the laboratory. It is shown that the developed Mo–Co/alkali/Al2O3 SWGS catalyst can operate very steadily even with the steam/gas ratio as low as 0.2–0.3, and the main deactivation factors are accidental caking, sintering, as well as poisoning impurities, such as As or Cl. The adoption of lean steam/gas SWGS catalyst can significantly improve the plant efficiency & safety and remarkably reduce the actual steam consumption for H2 production, which can decrease CO2 emission correspondingly. The work helps to evaluate how specially designed SWGS catalysts performed under applied lean steam/gas conditions, providing important references for researchers and industry.